Defender of the People
by The Wyandotte
Summary: Ruby is an assassin, trying to redeem herself after a failure on an important mission. Tasked with eliminating Templars in each of the four kingdoms, she arrives in Vale looking for Ozpin. Finding him prepared for her, her situation quickly changes. Faced with challenges to everything that she believes, she's left with one important choice: What to do now? Hints of White Rose.
1. Chapter 1: The Blood of a Scribe

**A/N:** A post on the r/RWBY subreddit got me thinking about an Assassin's Creed/RWBY crossover, and while a search here showed that yes, there are several already, none of them had the same focus that the original comment had asked for. The beauty of fan fiction is that essentially anyone can write it, at any time, so I decided to try my hand at it. This is my first posted (read: written many in my head but never put any on "paper" before) fan fiction, so any feedback, either in the form of a PM or a review, is greatly appreciated.

Наслаждáйтесь!

* * *

 **Chapter One: The Blood of a Scribe**

Dong. Dong. Dong.

 _Don't look down Ruby,_ the young assassin told herself. _Whatever you don't do look down. It's a very long fall._

 _But I'm not scared of heights,_ she told herself. _Why should I be?_

The first voice responded immediately. _Well, there was that time you tried to use your semblance to run up that cliff…how far had you gotten when you fell?_

 _About a third of the way,_ the second voice in her head admitted begrudgingly. _But I'm climbing safely here, not running wildly. I have a lot more experience now. Also, remember our trials? We had to_ dive _off a cliff. How could we do that if we feared heights?_

 _Humph. There aren't any conveniently placed hay bales under this tower. This is a clock tower you're climbing, not a farm silo._

Dong. Dong. Dong The clock continued to chime, its somber notes dying off slowly in the night. There was a flutter of wings as a raven flew off, woken from its sleep and disturbed from its nest by the chime of the clock.

 _Focus on the mission,_ her second voice said. _We may already be too late._

It was that Schnee girl's fault if she was. Ruby had seen her at the docks, her military training evident in the way she stood perfectly straight, barking out orders to the soldiers unloading crates and luggage from the ships. She must have rushed here from Atlas as fast as Ruby herself had. Salem had warned Ruby that each mission would be harder than the one before as their enemies became aware of the danger.

Still, she hadn't expected this. She hadn't expected her. Shouldn't she be in Atlas, with her family? What remains of it, at least? As Ruby continued to climb she thought back to when she had first landed at the school's docks a few hours ago, shortly after the sun had set. _White combat skirt. Long rapier at her side. She likely relies on speed and grace in combat. She probably can't take a lot of damage._

 _Fine white skin,_ her other voice noted. _Piercing blue eyes. Long white hair. I wonder, is_ all _her hair that color?_

 _She had heels on. A fight on uneven ground would slow her._ She wouldn't let herself give in to those thoughts. Not here, at least. _Focus on the mission._

 _I'd rather see what she does without the boots on,_ the first voice said.

 _NO!_ Ruby's second voice shouted in her head. _Focus on the mission…definitely focus on the mission._

 _Maybe later, then,_ the first voice pouted. It was really starting to get out of control.

Dong. Dong. Dong.

 _Is Crescent Rose still with us then? If you won't let yourself have any fun?_ the first voice asked.

Ruby pulled herself up to a small ledge made from an extruding brick and hugged the wall. She carefully reached behind her back with one hand and made sure her scythe was still attacked firmly. She wouldn't be weaponless without it- she even slept with the hidden blade on her left forearm, and she had several throwing knives strung along her waist. Even so, without her main weapon she would be at a disadvantage in a real fight. Also, if it fell it might alert the guards posted below her at the tower's entrance. Then all of the effort she had put into sneaking through the school would have been wasted.

Dong. Dong. Dong. The clock finished the twelfth chime and went silent.

Satisfied her weapons were all secure, she continued to climb. Midnight. There was a chance Ozpin was working late and still in the tower. It would be a waste if he wasn't. All she could do for now was hope. Hope, and continue to climb.

She couldn't afford to have another mistake in her record, especially not so soon after the last one. She had been sent with Team CRME to enlist the aid of the White Fang. They had failed, and then had failed in their attack on the Fall Maiden. Now she was being sent to try and clean up all the broken pieces of Salem's plan. Together they would bring freedom to the people of Remnant. Freedom from the fear that kept them as slaves.

 _Is that really her aim, though?_ asked her more independent voice. _Remember what Mr. Schnee had said as he lay dying. You confronted him with his sins-_

 _Yes. His sins were many,_ the second, the more loyal, voice cut in. _Slavery of the faunus, murder of those who spoke out against him, driving any competitor out of business by whatever means were necessary, even if it meant breaking the laws that had been enacted to help others._

 _And what was his response? He posted guards to protect them from the Grimm, not to intimidate them into subservience. He gave them a home and food, educated their children. He didn't withhold payment, even if it might not seem a fair wage._

Ruby sighed. She was allowing herself to be distracted from her mission again. _Just keep climbing._ That was something that she could do. One hand after another, one handhold to the next.

It didn't take her long to reach to top of the tower. She snuggled up to the wall and made sure she had good footing on the rough brick. Satisfied she wouldn't fall, she unhooked her scythe and it unfolded quickly in her hand, rapidly expanding many times until it was longer than she was tall. Holding onto the wall tightly with her left hand, she leaned out and swung the scythe with her right arm up, hooking the blade on the floor of the small balcony that circled the top floor. Giving it a hard tug, she decided it would hold her weight. Taking a deep breath, she kicked off from the wall and used her scythe as a pendulum to swing herself up and over the railing on the balcony. Dropping into a quick roll, she smashed through one of the windows and leapt to her feet, weapon at the ready, eyes scanning the room for her target.

"You…have silver eyes," a calm voice said from behind her.

Ruby turned quickly and looked at the speaker. It was the man she had been sent to kill, sitting calmly behind a desk, a steaming cup of coffee in his hand. Behind him, several screens were frozen with different images of Ruby throughout the day, including several that showed her since her infiltration of the schoolgrounds.

"You have me at a disadvantage, young one. You know who I am. And yet…I do not know your name." It was a statement, but invited an answer.

Ruby was cautious. Her two voices were shouting at each other, one urging her to action, to remember the mission, to kill; the other urging caution and patience. _Humph_. Since when had her independent voice been the one to take things slow? She could always count on it to rush into judgements before.

"Ruby. Ruby Rose." She finally decided to answer. Ozpin had known she was coming, she reasoned. He would be prepared for her. She might as well hear what he has to say while looking for her opening. And his knowing her name didn't give him any power of her.

"And what is an adorable girl such as yourself doing here?"

 _A test, then_ , Ruby thought. "I want to slay monsters."

"And that is what you think of me? I'm hurt. We've only just met." He took a sip of his coffee. "No, why are you _really_ here?"

Ruby paused. "I want to help people." There. That was an honest answer.

"And that is what you are doing now?" he asked. The screens behind him changed, no longer showing Ruby. Instead, they showed the victims of her recent attacks in Haven and Atlas. One screen had that Schnee girl, the one she had seen barking out orders at the docks, crying as she cradled her dead father in her arms. A girl who was barely older than Ruby herself.

"Yes?" Ruby wasn't so sure, and the tone of her voice highlighted that. Salem wouldn't lie to her, right? And Cinder, and Emerald, and Merc? Her friends wanted to help people too, right? That's what they were doing.

"You seek to promote peace. Yet you commit murder. You seek to open the minds of men, but require obedience to rules. You seek to reveal the dangers of blind faith, but practice it yourself." Again the images on the screens changed, showing the many guards that had fallen prey to Ruby. "Are not the children innocent of the crimes of the fathers? Tell me, Miss. Rose, what crime had they committed?"

Ruby was at a loss now. This man was so calm, so certain he was in the right. Just as Schnee had been when she killed him. Just like they all had been.

The door behind Ruby smashed open, and the white-haired girl ran in. "Professor Ozpin, I heard a window smash," she shouted. "Professor Ozpin?"

"Calm yourself, Weiss. I am in no danger at the moment. Stay your sword." He turned his attention back to Ruby. "We want nothing more than peace and safety for all men, for all Faunus. Are not the Grimm the enemy? I offer you a choice, Miss Rose. Stay, and listen to what I offer you. Or attempt to finish your mission, to fight through her," he pointed at Weiss, "and through that," pointing at a floating large silver arm grasping a sword, "before even having a chance to go against me." He took a sip from his coffee and grabbed his cane. "The choice is yours."

Ruby cautiously lowered her weapon. "Well then. Hello."

Professor Ozpin smiled. "Nice to meet you."


	2. Chapter 2: The Conversationalist

**A/N:** In the interest of full disclosure, I was not expecting anyone to notice or read this, and it was intended more as a proof-of-concept than anything else. However, since there was infinitely more interest than I expected (anything over zero is infinitely more than zero, right?), I figured I would at least attempt to continue the story.

If you have even just a few free seconds after reading, please take the time to leave a review. This is _**fan**_ fiction, and you are the fans. These stories are for all of us, and input from you can only make it better.

Thank you. 

* * *

**Chapter Two: The Conversationalist**

 _What did you get yourself into, Red?_ Ruby asked herself for the tenth time that night. She was still in the office at the top of the clock tower, now sitting on one of only two chairs in the room. Across the desk, Professor Ozpin sat in the other. He had sent the Schnee girl off to find another of the teachers at the school, leaving the two of them in the room alone. He continued to drink coffee from his mug, talking slowly, deliberately, between sips. He had been talking for several minutes now.

"Did you know we were once all of the same order? That once, nine huntsman and huntresses gathered together with the goal of protecting the people. 'Well of course,' you say. 'Is that not what huntsman do?' These few, however, were different. They looked at the world and saw wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction. They saw four kingdoms fighting each other, when there could be one kingdom, fighting the Grimm. In time, they turned their attention away from mere quests and towards those they felt the need to protect. Humanity, united, would face down the darkness. And for a time, they worked together. Alas, it was a peace that would not endure.

"The death of Huguette Payne was the final straw in a conflict that had been growing for years. Without her to bridge the gap, the order split on one very important idea."

"You seek power," Ruby said coldly.

"I seek control, Miss Rose, not power. It may be easy to mistake them, as some may confuse money with wealth, or respect with approval, but do not fall prey to that trap. But that is beside the point. Free will, essentially, is what divided our order. As an Assassin, you view it as…"

"A right for all mankind, to be preserved no matter the cost."

"And the Templars do not. Yet you blindly obey the orders of your mentor. Did you have any say in this assignment? Were you consulted before being sent to murder me? I thought as much."

"That isn't how it works," Ruby argued. "I mean, I wasn't, but I don't need to be…" With just the one question, Ozpin had managed to fluster her. "I have a say in things."

"Miss Rose, we are not as different as you may presume. Our end goal, at least, is the exact same. We desire peace. Peace among kingdoms and peace among citizens. A world without war, without pain, without suffering."

"You desire peace without freedom. Excuse me if I do not leap with joy at the prospect."

"Luckily, I do not ask that of you. For now, I simply beg your patience." He took a sip of his coffee, pausing to stare at the young girl before continuing his speech. "But enough about that for now. A change in subject may suit you. What is a secret, Miss Rose?" he asked.

Ruby was still thinking about what Ozpin had been saying, and wasn't prepared for the rapid topical change. She was faintly familiar with the idea that the assassins and the Templars had once been united, but it wasn't something normally mentioned among her order. Whatever may have once been, the past was past. Their supposed goals certainly didn't justify their means. _Do ours?_ her first voice asked. _How many have we killed in our pursuit of peace?_ _How many faces were displayed on the screens, how many children grow up without their fathers because of us?_ No, there would be time to question that later. Ozpin was waiting for an answer. _What does he want? Does he want me to reveal something about Salem? I only promised to hear him out, not to betray her trust in me. Or does he just want the definition of a secret?_ "Uh, a secret is something that you don't tell anyone. I guess?" _I won't reveal anything just yet. I will only speak when spoken too. Just the bare minimum._

"You sound unsure of yourself. Would you like to try again?" He took a sip from his cup.

"A secret is something you don't share." More confident here, even if it was basically the same answer. What was he looking for? Ruby stared at his face, his eyes. They didn't reveal anything, hidden away behind his dark glasses.

"That may be the _idea_ behind a secret, but what is it in practice? No guess? Very well. A secret, Miss Rose, is control. It can be control over yourself, or control over another." Another sip of coffee, then he leaned forward and rested his arm on the desk. "Now then. What is trust?"

She opened her mouth to answer, but paused to consider it first. _Trust is faith in another,_ the loyal voice inside her said. _No, it is faith in yourself,_ replied the independent one. Ruby closed her mouth and tilted her head to the side. Neither of those would be what he was looking for. He's concerned about how things are in reality, not how they are in theory. What _is_ trust?

"Trust is something that takes years to build, seconds to break and forever to repair." She said it with confidence. What would it matter if it wasn't the answer he wanted? Since when had she wanted to impress him? A half-hour ago he was just another target, judged guilty of crimes and sentenced to death by her master.

He smiled at her and rose from his chair. "Very good, Miss Rose. You have no reason to trust me-yet. We have not known each other for even a day, let alone had years to develop a strong relationship. Right now, I am merely a man you were sent to kill, and who has now tried to distract you and to prolong his own life by pointing the finger at another. Which is why I am going to offer you an olive branch, as it were. A way for us to build some trust in one another." He walked over to the wall of windows and looked out over the grounds of the school, carefully avoiding stepping on any of the broken shards from where Ruby had smashed through. "The people of Vale-"

He was interrupted by a knock on the door. It opened and a tall woman with thin glasses and a pencil skirt walked in, followed by Weiss.

Ruby studied the older woman carefully. She had the steady manner and cool focus of an experienced fighter, but it was mixed with a disinterest that may have rose from being too long removed from a battlefield. She appeared to have a collapsed riding crop attached to her boot. _An interesting weapon,_ Ruby thought to herself. _How does that work in combat? Maybe not a riding crop, but a baton?_ That would be a little bit more sensible. Finished with her threat assessment, Ruby turned her attention to the woman's appearance. Her height, which she had noticed as soon as she walked in, was accentuated by the high-heeled boots she was wearing. Light blonde hair, tied back in a bun, contrasted nicely with her green eyes.

"Miss Rose, this is Glynda Goodwitch. She is a teacher here at Beacon. I have asked her to join us because last night she managed to foil an attempted dust robbery in Vale. She will tell you the details, and then I expect you two ladies," he pointed first at Weiss and then at Ruby, "I expect you two ladies to work together to find the man responsible, Roman Torchwick. Weiss, you can think of the practical training you will receive. Ruby, you can view this as a way to help the innocent."

It seemed as if he expected there to be an uproar at this announcement, and he was not disappointed. Almost before he finished speaking, Weiss was shouting at him.

"Professor, you can't expect me to work with someone like her! She is an assassin! She is probably friends with the one who killed my father!" _So she knows what I am, but not who I am,_ Ruby thought. _And Ozpin isn't correcting her. I wonder why? Also, no objection from the other one? Strange._

"Miss Schnee, your sister allowed you to come here on the condition that you would listen to me. You _will_ make this work. Perhaps you may learn a thing or two. That is, assuming the assassin is willing to set aside her pride and work towards a common good? Her own master may not give her a say in her future, but I am will show her the respect she deserves."

Once again, he was giving Ruby a choice. Once again, though, there didn't seem to be much room for dissent. "Uh, I guess it can't hurt…I've chased after criminals before." _Maybe I can use this to my advantage, to escape from here._

Ozpin nodded, Weiss crossed her arms and started pacing back and forth while refusing to look at Ruby, and Glynda began to relay the details of the Vale police investigation.

* * *

Ozpin and Glynda looked out from the clock tower down at the distant city of Vale. The Bullhead carrying the two young women was hard to see in the darkness, illuminated only by the blinking lights on the tips of the four wings.

"Can we trust her?" Glynda asked.

"Which one?" Ozpin retorted. "The heiress or the assassin?" When she didn't respond, he continued. "Trust…is the wrong word. I think we can rely on them. We can rely on Miss Schnee to follow orders, and we can rely on Miss Rose to play the part of a hero." He walked from the windows to a small end table with a chessboard on it.

"You sound very confident, sir, in a girl who wanted to kill you an hour ago." Glynda crossed her arms. "I think we should have locked her away. She is too dangerous to be left to roam around on her own. Imagine what could happen if she finds out the truth about us-"

"Our opponent has made her move, and for better or worse we have made ours. She has sacrificed one pawn, but we know she has more," he said, ignoring her as he picked up a black pawn from the chessboard and moved it forward, then moved a knight to capture it. Holding the pawn in his hand, he raised it up to eye level and stared at it, turning it over to let the stained glass piece catch the light. "The question is, what will she do now?"

"Which one?" Glynda asked, throwing his words back at him. "Our opponent, or the girl?" Then she added under her breath, "As if they aren't both our opponents."

Ozpin placed the piece carefully to the side of the board before looking up from and meeting the female teacher's eyes momentarily. "That is a good question."


	3. Chapter 3: Head in the Cloud

**Chapter Three: Head in the Cloud**

The airship flew silently through the cool, clean, still nighttime air. Inside the ship, it was only slightly louder. A few men dressed as Beacon Academy cleaning staff were scattered around the ship, exhausted and silent after their long shift. Some wore headphones, listening to music on their scrolls. A news report played on the TV screen that took up one full wall. The anchor had just turned it over to a junior reporter, who was now talking about a new study on the different breeds of Grimm. Nothing groundbreaking there, Ruby decided. Really, she decided after looking around, it was a wonder that they even ran the ships at this time of night. _Morning, technically,_ Ruby corrected herself. There was hardly anyone on it. And why should there be? It was one-thirty in the morning, and the ship had left from a school. _Maybe there are more people returning. Students returning from a date, or teachers who had gone out for a few drinks._

Ruby was seated in the back row of the ship, her back to the wall. She didn't want to leave herself exposed to a surprise attack. Her hood was up, concealing her eyes as they flicked from one group to another, one individual to another. She carefully studied each one in turn, searching for any signs that they might pose a threat to her. The bulge in a jacket pocket- was it a gun, or a wallet after payday? The way that one stood- was he prepared to strike, or was he tense due to problems at home? It was an exercise that had been drilled into her since her youth. Always be aware of your surroundings.

She had added to it over the years as she gained confidence in her abilities. Threat assessment would always be the priority, but there was room for enjoyment as well. Over time, she had begun to play another guessing game with the subjects. She would try to guess their hobbies, or what they had for lunch. If she saw two people who were talking she would try to put words in their mouth for them. Just so long as she remained sure of her environment.

Right now there seemed to be only one real threat to her. It was currently pacing back and forth in the wide aisle that separated the two rows of seats. Weiss would take ten steps exactly, turn on her heel, repeat. Over and over, again and again. She hadn't stopped since stepping onto the ship ten minutes ago.

As if reading her mind, however, Weiss stopped in her tracks and sat down in the seat at the end of the row, crossing her left leg over her right and folding both arms against her chest. She kept her eyes staring straight ahead as she said "I don't suppose you have a plan for where we go when we land in Vale?"

Ruby turned her attention away from a man dressed in a black suit with a loosened tie and towards her… _what is she? My partner? My colleague?_ Hah. Definitely not that. _My associate? What is she?_ She turned her body to face the other girl and gave a small shrug. "Maybe. Maybe not. Who said I was in charge?"

Ruby heard the other girl take in a deep breath as she opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. Weiss looked down at her feet and said softly "I don't know anything about hunting." It hurt the white-haired girl to admit to a weakness in front of anyone, but especially so to someone she viewed as an enemy.

Ruby sensed her reluctance and weakness and pounced on it. _Maybe if I goad her she'll storm off when we land and it'll be easier to sneak away._ "I'm sorry, what was that?" she asked. "Could you speak up?" Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the man in the black suit reach into his jacket. She tensed up automatically, ready to move if he withdrew a weapon…no, his hand came out with a cigarette and a match. He lit it and took a long drag.

Weiss mumbled her comment again, still looking down at her feet.

"You'll have to repeat that. I still can't here you." Ruby raised her voice to demonstrate how loud she wanted it to be. It caused a few of the others on the ship to look up and around in confusion at the sudden noise.

"I'm lost, okay?" Weiss shouted, louder even then Ruby had. Everyone on the ship looked at her, and the man in the black suit coughed as he breathed in some of his smoke. "I was sent here because I was too weak to be of any use to my family, and I already failed my first assignment. I couldn't even keep you out." She threw her arms up in the air. "I assured Professor Ozpin I would keep him safe, and what happened? My first night here, and you got in anyway. You snuck through the entire school, climbed the tower, burst in through the window. Who knows how long you were in there before I showed up. Then he sent me on an errand as a lowly messenger. Now he's given me one last shot to redeem myself, and I'm so far out of my depth that I have to rely on you to help me."

Slowly the men on the ship turned away from the two young women in embarrassment and pretended to focus on something else. While it might have seemed like they were turning their attention back to their scrolls or their conversations, really they wanted to hear the rest of what was no longer a private conversation.

 _That was a mistake,_ said one of the voices in Ruby's head. _You just drew way too much attention to yourself. What are the tenets? "Hide in plain sight, be one with the crowd." "Never compromise the Brotherhood."_ That was her loyal voice, the part of her that had been raised as an assassin.

 _And what of the first tenet?_ This was her independent voice, the one that always seemed to cause her problems. _"Stay your blade from the flesh of an innocent." Was attacking that girl necessary?_

 _She is hardly an innocent,_ the first voice replied. _She is a Schnee. Her father abused his power, and she has benefitted from that abuse her entire life. Think of who she now works for, Professor Ozpin. Another that has been judged guilty and sentenced to death for the good of humanity._

 _Are not the children innocent of the crimes of the fathers? Have you witnessed her do any wrong herself? You have only see her grieve a parent, protect an employer, and view the capture of a known and wanted criminal as a task to be regarded with her full determination, even if she has to put aside her own desires to do so._

 _Now you quote the enemy? You are weak. Why have you been allowed to exist for so long, sowing your seeds of discontent? Your link weakens this body's whole chain._

"I know what it's like," Ruby heard herself saying out loud. She hadn't even realized that she was speaking, or that she had stood and moved to the other girl's side, or that the other girl was crying softly. "I know what it's like to fail, and to have someone you want to impress."

 _What did you do to us?_ her loyal voice was screaming inside her head. _Why are we doing this? Run now, while she is distracted!_

"Just get away from me!" Weiss said as she tried to push Ruby away. The younger girl caught the older one's wrists and held onto them instead, drawing herself closer. In response, Weiss turned her head away while shaking her arms, trying to free herself.

 _What did I do to us? Just look what you've done! You've only ever cared about impressing_ her, _doing things for_ her, _even if it meant we didn't get to live for ourselves. I'm the only one looking out for Ruby! You're looking out for Salem, and there's no place for two women in this head!_

Weiss was finally able to fight her way free and pushed Ruby away forcefully. "Get away from me!" she shouted as she stood quickly and ran toward the small bathroom at the front of the ship.

 _Perfect,_ her first voice said. _Leave now!_

 _No. Think of the people you could help. How many lives has Torchwick ruined already, and now you have a chance to stop him? Take it._

Ruby remained in the seat she had moved too after first upsetting Weiss and grabbed at her head. Inside of her, the two voices were arguing fiercely. It was beginning to give her a pounding headache.

Suddenly a new voice made an appearance, quiet and timid. _Excuse me,_ it seemed to be saying. _Listen to me. Quiet down, both of you. This isn't right_. Ruby wanted to listen to that voice. _Neither of you belong here._ Ruby finally gained control of her thoughts and forced them silent. _Thank you,_ the new voice said. _Ruby, this is…well, this is you, Ruby. This is the real you. Those other voices? They aren't you. Think for yourself for once. Use that free will you've been told you're fighting for._

 _Those other voices aren't you. It isn't loyalty, or honor. That voice is hers, its Salem's. The woman who took you off the streets, promised you a purpose…that voice is hers, trying to guilt you into doing what_ she _wants._

 _It isn't independence, or individuality. It's him, your uncle. The man who first taught you how to fight, only to leave you behind when it became inconvenient to him. He went off to die, and left his voice with you, trying to guilt you into doing what_ he _wants._

 _Neither of them are you, though. You are the best parts of both of them, I think. You have her purpose-free humanity from fear. You have his selflessness-push yourself past your limits to help others._

Ruby was nodding to herself, ignoring the lingering looks of the other occupants of the airship. Yes, yes, this quiet, but forceful, voice was _her_. It felt _right._ It was something she could be proud of. She felt the two voices that had waged war inside her head for so long fade away like a fire that hadn't been stoked. Slowly, surely, the two individual fires died out, replaced with one single one.

 _I've been waiting for so long for you to wake up, Ruby. We're going to have so much fun together. We're going to do so much good together. Just listen to me, girl. I won't lie to you. I won't mislead you. I won't use you. I'm here for your benefit._

 _Now go and find Weiss. I hope you fancy yourself a detective. You have a criminal to catch._

* * *

Ruby walked slowly towards the exit of the ship. It wouldn't have been easy for her to blend in with the crowd of middle aged men wearing janitor's overalls or business suits, so she didn't even try. Instead, she merely hung to the back of the crowd as it pushed towards the doors. The ship hadn't docked yet, but it would shortly. Everyone was tired and ready to be sleeping at home. They wanted to be off the ship immediately after it landed.

She looked for Weiss, but couldn't see her. She wasn't tall enough to see over the heads of the crowd, and Weiss, even in heels, wasn't tall enough to be seen over the heads of the crowd. _She might even be shorter than me if she wasn't wearing those ridiculous boots_ , she thought. _How does she fight in them?_

It was nice, Ruby decided. The journey from the school to the city wasn't long, so she hadn't been able to enjoy her newfound inner voice for long. But what little she had had been _very_ enjoyable indeed. Her headache had disappeared, leaving her clearheaded for the first time in years. She hadn't even realized how much stress her inner conflicts had been causing her, or the fog that had covered her, until now that it was gone. A veil had been lifted from her eyes, and it was amazing.

 _Where is Weiss?_ _I can't say yet if Salem lied to me, or if Ozpin has, or if they both are, but it seems clear that Torchwick is a bad man. This is a big city. There's a lot of ground to cover. Having a partner, especially one that's as influential as a Schnee, could only help to find him._ She extended her hidden blade briefly before having it spring close. _Find him, and finish him. Use this to help the people._

With just a small jostle, the ship landed and the voice of the captain came over the loudspeakers. "Ladies and gentlemen, we have landed safely in Vale. Check your seats for any belongings and please leave the ship in a calm and orderly fashion. We are honored that you traveled with us tonight." The red light over the doors flashed to green as they slid open. "Ladies and gentlemen awaiting transport to Beacon Academy, please remain patient as our current passengers exit the ship. We'll begin boarding shortly and will depart in five minutes. Thank you for your patience." The message would repeat soon, Ruby knew. It had probably played a million times since it was first recorded.

Getting off the ship, Ruby walked towards the stairway that would lead up from the station to the city proper. As she neared it, she saw a girl with long white hair tied to the side, wearing a white dress with a long rapier at her side nearing the top. _Aha. She must have been at the very front of the crowd. That's the only way that she could have gotten up there so quickly. How can I catch up to her?_ It was a little crowded to be using her semblance, she decided. She had already drawn enough attention to herself on the ship by making Weiss shout out angrily. She didn't need to do more here, now, with even more people around. _How can I get up there…aha! There!_ She gently pushed her way through the crowd and past the first stairway. A few hundred feet ahead of her was another staircase, probably used during the day when there were multiple ships coming in at a time. With just the one, though, there wasn't anyone near it. Ruby could use her speed her there, catch up with Weiss, and maybe, just maybe, convince her that she wanted to help.

* * *

Weiss gently wiped at her eyes with her handkerchief. She didn't want to mess up any of her makeup. _Like it could get any worse for me tonight,_ she thought dryly. _Maybe I should have stayed in Atlas…_

That thought scared her, and she hurriedly pushed it to the back of her mind. It didn't stay there for long. She had spent her entire life trying to get out of her father's grasp, and now, finally, she had managed too. Even if it hadn't gone the way she had expected it too. Now she was alone, and being alone scared her.

She sat on the toilet in the small bathroom and buried her head in her hands. She didn't miss her father, not really. He had never cared much for her, viewing her only as a means to an end. He hadn't discouraged her combat training, but only as long as she studied all the things a proper lady should know. He would marry her off as soon as he could. He knew that, her mother knew that, her sister knew that. Being admitted to the Templars was only a formality. Her father had never expected her to do anything more than decorate the arm of a man she wouldn't meet until her father and his had finalized all the details of their wedding contract, set the date, and hired the band..

Now he was gone, and she was left without a plan. Winter had stepped in quickly to take over the business interests until someone more qualified could be found. She had needed to take a brief leave from her military service to do so. _She's older than me,_ Weiss thought. _She should be the heiress, not me. She should be the one with the duty they don't want, not me._ She shook her head. No, she didn't want that for her sister. Winter had been the only one to ever express the slightest amount of real, personal interest in her. She had been the one who would teach her about glyphs, how to hold her sword, what the proper stance was in a fight. _Even my instructors didn't really care how I did. Father had told them that I wouldn't ever use what they taught me. So why should they have put forth any meaningful effort?_

But she had been determined to try, to succeed where they had said she would fail. And so she had studied on her own, and had pushed herself far past what she had considered her limits. Winter had noticed her determination at least. So when she took over the day after Father died… _the day after Father was murdered_ , she reminded herself…Winter had agreed to hear her plan to attend Beacon. Her sister had given her some of her time, asking questions about what she wanted for the future, listening patiently to the answers, until she had agreed on two conditions. _She said I had to listen to Ozpin, following his orders and keep him safe._ _I've already failed at both of those._

"I'm a failure," she said out loud. "I'm not perfect. I've tried _so_ hard, but I'm not. Not yet at least. I should just go back home." The assassin had made that clear. That girl was younger even than Weiss was, yet she had managed to sneak through the school. It hadn't mattered that Weiss had doubled the amount of guards. She had been able to attack Professor Ozpin. It hadn't mattered that Weiss had been standing in a room near the bottom of the tower. And now, when they were supposed to work together, she had with just a few words caused Weiss to flee and hide. _I couldn't protect him, and I'm not listening to him. Both of my promises have been broken._

She wiped the last few tears from her eyes and stood, looking into the mirror to see how much damage she had done. _Not as bad as it could've been, I suppose. At least that's…something._

She cracked the door open and looked out cautiously. Ruby was sitting where she had been when Weiss left, mouthing words to herself in some sort of…what? A conversation with herself? Whatever it was, the younger girl was very animated. And apparently a little crazy. _Who actually talks to themselves? I mean, out loud?_ Still, there was something appealing about the girl that she couldn't quite put her finger on. _Her eyes are so honest. Maybe that's it. Or perhaps it's the way she talked to me. She didn't fear me or my family. She didn't pretend to be anything that she isn't in an attempt to impress my family._ She opened the door fully and exited the ship's small bathroom, but didn't head back toward the black-haired girl **.** Instead she headed in the opposite direction, towards the extreme front of the ship. It would be landing soon, and Weiss wanted to be the first one off when it landed. _The sooner we land, the sooner I can find a hotel for a night. Then I can take a ship back to Atlas in the morning. What will I say to Winter?_

She stood by the doors for the next few minutes, turning the thought over in her mind. She barely noticed as the other travelers started to surround her, eager to return home after a long day.

As the doors opened she exited the ship and made her way towards the staircase. She hadn't spent any time in Vale, as she had arrived only a few days ago and had made her way to Beacon almost immediately. Still, she figured that there must be a hotel or two right near the station. That was how it was set up in Atlas, at least. Why would Vale be any different?

She reached the top of the staircase and moved forward before turning to the right. A sign over the hallway had an image that appeared to be representing a hotel, so she followed the arrows, breaking off from the small crowd of people. Apparently none of them needed a room to stay in.

Then, a whoosh, a flash of red, and suddenly there were rose petals floating in the air in front of her. She grabbed at one cautiously while using her other hand to fan the remainder out of her eyes. _Where did this come from?_

Then she saw exactly where it had come from. In front of her, stepping out of the shadows created by a sharp turn in the hallway, was Ruby Rose. And she had her weapon drawn.

* * *

"Is the sword necessary?" Ruby asked.

"Is the scythe?" retorted Weiss coldly.

Ruby looked down at her weapon. "Yes, it is. But it isn't for you." She rose her weapon and swung it carefully a few times, cautious of frightening Weiss into attacking and of the somewhat cramped confines of the hallway. "I built and designed this weapon for one reason: to kill. That is what it does."

Weiss carefully watched Ruby as she spoke.

"This weapon is a part of me. It's an extension of myself. _I_ kill. It's what I do."

Weiss still hadn't lowered her sword, angling it toward Ruby. She instinctively moved her feet so she would be ready to fight. _Why,_ she wondered. _Why is she telling me this?_

"I've never really stopped to consider if what I was doing was right or not. I was trying to impress someone, someone that claimed to want to help me. I gave it some thought just now and…I mean, I was thinking about what you said on the ship and…" she trailed off, not finishing her sentence.

Weiss carefully lowered her own sword. She didn't put it down fully yet though. _How could this girl be such a good fighter, how could she think to challenge Ozpin, and yet seem so scared when talking face to face?_ "Just say it."

"I want to take down Torchwick. I want to help people," she said excitedly. "I think we can do it." She emphasized the word _we._ "I want to use this weapon for the purpose I built it for: to help people who can't help themselves."

At this, Weiss lowered her sword fully. _I don't want to return to Atlas,_ she thought. _But can I trust her? After all, she did chase after me. Why would she do that if she was just going to run away?_ "Ruby, right?" she asked. "That was your name?"

The other girl nodded. "Ruby Rose. From Patch." She extended her hand.

"Listen, Ruby, I don't think I like you. But if we're going to do this, we're going to have to do this together. Are you with me?"

Ruby nodded again. "Yeah."

"Then let me introduce myself properly. My name is Weiss Schnee." She looked at the hand Ruby still had held out and sighed. _Here goes._ She extended her own hand to shake Ruby's. "Do you have any ideas as to where we go from here?"

"Well, I thought we could go over what Glynda- I mean Professor Goodwitch- had told us. There must have been something there that we can use."

 _Maybe I'm not a failure after all,_ Weiss thought. _Maybe I don't need to go crawling back to Atlas. Maybe meeting this girl will be good for me._ "Okay." A simple word, representing a complex alliance.

Ruby looked around worriedly. There wasn't anyone around them, but still… _You can never be too careful_ , she thought _._ "Not here, though. Too public. Follow me."

She ran off ahead, out of the station and across the street, Weiss following after her.

* * *

"Uh, I guess it can't hurt…I've chased after criminals before," Ruby said cautiously.

Ozpin nodded, Weiss crossed her arms and started pacing back and forth while refusing to look at Ruby, Ozpin or Glynda. Glynda herself began to relay the details of the Vale police investigation, her voice strict, her demeanor demanding the attention of everyone in the room.

"This is Roman Torchwick," she said as she tapped at her scroll. An image of the man appeared on the screens behind the desk opposite where the three women were standing. Professor Ozpin turned from looking out over the school grounds and faced the screens himself. The man on them was shown both head on and in profile against a police height chart, holding a sign with his name and an identification number.

"Heh heh…they should have held onto him longer instead of letting him go after taking his picture," Ruby joked.

Glynda stopped and looked at her. "Now is hardly the time for humor, young lady," she scolded. "As I was saying, this is Roman Torchwick. He has been wanted by the Vale Police Department for years now, ever since he managed to escape shortly after this picture was taken.

"Not much is known about this man besides his physical appearance. Just over six feet, green eyes, orange hair. We don't know his age, family or personal history though according to witness reports, he is very attached to his hat…"

"Oh, that'll help _immensely_ ," Weiss said as she paced back and forth.

Glynda drew and snapped her riding crop down on the desk, instantly silencing the heiress. _Ah, so it is a riding crop, not a baton…interesting. Very interesting,_ Ruby thought to herself.

"For the last few weeks, there has been a dramatic increase in the number and boldness of dust robberies. Professor Ozpin was approached by the VPD because of this, and he agreed to send me to them to advise them. I decided to stake out one of the larger dust shops that for some reason had been ignored so far, _From Dust Till Dawn._ I entered the store and asked the owner if he had seen anyone suspicious around. Before he could answer, Roman entered along with several apparent henchmen.

"At the time, I didn't recognize him. Nothing yet had connected him to the robberies. He nodded to his men and they made a move to grab the dust crystals, which is when I intervened. Roman set his men against me, and ran away. I followed as best as I could, chasing him onto a rooftop, but he was able to escape with the help of a very powerful huntress.

"I decided after this to report back to Professor Ozpin. I was only able to briefly study the VPD files on each of the robberies, but they didn't have much in them, so it wouldn't have taken me very long anyway. One detective mentioned an informant from the Wild Fang that was never followed, and another mentioned a visit to a nightclub to ask the owner what he had heard. That visit never panned out. His name is Hei Xiong, but he apparently is known on the street as 'Junior.'" She finished speaking and motioned to Ozpin to take over.

"There you have it, ladies. You face the world now slightly more prepared." Ozpin reclaimed his seat and pointed towards the door. "Remember, Miss Rose, that you fight for the people. And they need you. Miss Schnee, remember what you told me when you arrived yesterday. You can view this as your first test."

* * *

"Are you sure this is the right place?" Weiss asked her new partner. They had decided together to search out Junior at his club to see if he had heard or seen anything.

Ruby pointed at the sign above the nightclub. "Here's your sign, Weiss."

Weiss groaned. "We _do not_ know each other well enough for jokes, Ruby." _Is she still testing me? Or is she really just like this? She's an assassin…but also a person, right? No one in my family ever seemed so real. This girl…she seems real. Maybe I was too quick to say I didn't like her…_

The young assassin sighed, muttering under her breath. "You might not think it, but humor helps with this."

"What was that?" Weiss asked, looking over. She was sitting next to Ruby on a bench across the street from Junior's nightclub, studying the line outside and the bouncers that were keeping them in check.

"It wasn't anything important. I was just saying that humor helps…"

Weiss raised her hand and shushed Ruby. "No, you dolt. What was that?" She pointed to a man flying through the air, a young woman chasing after him. "And who are they?" Moving her arm, she pointed at two women who were running out of the nightclub, weapons held at the ready in their hands.


	4. Chapter 4: Red Light District

**Chapter 4: Red Light District**

"How long will you be watching them?" Glynda asked. She was pacing back and forth in the headmaster's office, trying to stay awake. _I'm not as young as I used to be,_ she mused. _I used to fight through the wilds for days on end without any sleep. Time catches up with us all._ She looked over at Ozpin. _Well, with almost all of us._

"Well, for as long as I can," Ozpin responded. He was behind his desk, holding his scroll in front of him with both hands. It was showing video taken moments before from outside the nightclub.

"I can't possibly imagine those two ladies getting along…still, they're probably better off than Mrs. Nikos was." She shuddered slightly at the thought of being given the same partner the gifted young gladiator.

"Hmm…" He was only slightly listening to her, most of his attention being focused on the video. Something interesting was apparently happening.

"I don't care what his-" Glynda began before being cut off by Ozpin.

"I guess we'll find out soon enough." He took a sip of his coffee. "In the meantime, we have a new development. Someone seems to have gotten to Junior first."

"What is your interest in the girl anyway?" Glynda asked as she walked around the desk to look over Ozpin's shoulder.

"Consider it…an investment…in the future, Ms. Goodwich. Now watch carefully. There is much we can learn from this."

"Who's the blonde?" she asked.

Ozpin kept his gaze fixed on the security camera footage that was splashed across his screen. "I don't know…which is all the more reason to watch carefully."

* * *

"No, you dolt. What was that?" Weiss pointed as she spoke.

Ruby seemed to ignore her, standing slowly and looking across the street to where a large man and a young woman had just landed. "Yang?" she asked. "Is that you?"

The blonde across the street jumped to her feet, instantly recognizing the voice of her sister even if she hadn't seen her in years. "Oh, hey sis." She waved cheerfully. "I didn't expect to see you here."

Ruby walked across the street, roughly pushing her way through the people that were fleeing the nightclub. "Yang, what are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing, sis. And what's with the weird outfit? You're dressed like a priest or something." Yang rose her hand and felt the small cloak that Ruby was wearing. "Though you do still kinda have your 'Little Red Riding Hood' look."

Ruby began to answer, but stopped when Weiss grabbed her wrist and pulled on it, just a little too harshly. "We can handle introductions and pleasantries later, if you don't mind. We have a mission to focus on. Or have you forgotten?"

"Wow. You're crabby." Yang said.

"No, I'm just concerned about _them_ ," pointing at the large man who seemed to have recovered from being thrown roughly through a window and was on his feet again, shaking his head to clear it and making his way over to two women who looked to be twins. He grabbed a wooden baseball bat from what must have been one of his goons who was now fleeing the area.

"Melanie, who are these girls?" asked one of the twins in a monotone. She was wearing a red strapless dress with black accents.

"I don't know, Miltia, but we should teach them a lesson." She crossed her arms.

The large man straightened his tie and pointed his bat at Yang. "You'll pay for that," he growled while he narrowed his eyes. "I gave you a chance to walk away and you didn't take it. You'll come to regret that Blondie…assuming you survive."

"Oh Junior, I was just playing with you. Don't be so sensitive." Yang laughed off ahis threat, tossing a lock of her hair over her shoulder. "Ruby, you might want to go hide where it's safer for the next few minutes. I have to teach this ape some manners." She adjusted the gauntlets on her wrist, then leaned forward, preparing to attack.

"I'm not leaving you, Yang. I can handle myself." Ruby reached behind her back and unclasped her scythe, Crescent Rose. "I've grown a lot since you've left me behind. Just you wait and see."

Weiss also drew her sword. "If that's Junior, then I guess I'm a part of this too. Remember, Ruby, that we need him alive. The same goes for you," she said to Yang.

There wasn't any more time for words as Junior and his two bodyguards leapt into action. Junior headed towards Yang, Melanie raced toward Ruby and Miltia licked her claws as she stared down Weiss.

* * *

Yang fired off several shots from her gauntlets as Junior ran towards her. He swung his bat upward quickly, managing to deflect each of the blasts in quick succession. Any injuries he may have received from being sent through the window were apparently forgotten as he moved agilely, especially so for a man his size. The initial gap between them closed, he lunged forward while swinging downward from right to left. Yang fired downward, using the blast to lift herself up, over the swing of the bat. While in the air she tried to punch Junior, but without any footing she wasn't able to put much force behind it. Junior dodged the single punch easily, swinging viciously as he did so.

This time the hit connected solidly while Yang was still in the air, stopping her forward progress and then launching her in the opposite direction. She crashed into a dumpster several yards away, denting it heavily, and some of the trash bags piled on with the least possible amount of care fell to the ground, displaced by the sudden impact. Several mice, spooked by the sudden disturbance of their home, ran away into the night squeaking.

She stood and gave a wry smile at the nightclub owner, then turned her head as far as she could, cracking her neck. _This is going well. How's Ruby?_ She looked around and saw her sister hadn't moved yet; she was using her scythe as a rifle, firing at the girl wearing white. _She seems fine for now._ "Is that all you got?" she taunted, turning her attention back to Junior.

In answer, Junior growled again and began to walk toward Yang. "You're going to pay for what you did," he repeated himself.

Yang pushed her fists together in front of herself and gave a small laugh. "Good luck," she said, jumping through the air at Junior. She fired her gauntlets repeatedly, hitting the ground right in front of Junior. The blasts tore up large chunks of cement from the sidewalk, shards flying into Junior's arms as he raised them to cover his face. His vest and shirt were now torn, and blood dripped from several cuts to his arms, hands and chest.

The dust from the ruined cement also created a sort of fog that obscured his vision, and he wasn't able to see Yang until it was too late. With a fury, she threw several punches in quick succession, hitting Junior in the stomach, chest and head rapidly with alternating fists. He tried to swing his bat at her to regain the offensive, but she ducked below it and planted her feet, putting all of her strength into a right-handed uppercut to his jaw.

The hit connected, throwing Junior to the ground and back several feet. He shook his head as he had earlier, trying to clear his senses as he struggled to rise to his feet. He looked at his hands and saw that he had somehow managed to grab some of Yang's hair and ripped it out of her head.

Yang's eyes feel to the hair as well, and she screamed in anger. To Junior, it looked as if she had burst into flames. She crouched low and then ran as fast as she could towards him, barely even caring as he once again tried to swing his bat at her. She formed a fist with her left hand and punched right through it, shattering the hardened wood and leaving Junior disoriented and vulnerable. Continuing her loud scream, she threw a punch with her right hand, accelerating it and amplifying the force by firing her gauntlet. It hit him square in the center of his left cheek, sending him flying backward yet again until he smashed into the outer wall of a brick building, spider web cracks radiating out from the crater he left. Unconscious, he fell to the ground.

Yang smiled in satisfaction at a job well done and turned around, curious as to how the other fights were preceding. She hadn't seen her sisters in years, not since their uncle had first agreed to teach Ruby as a young child. _Let's see if she really can handle herself,_ she thought. _I hope so._

* * *

Weiss threw up a glyph in the air in front of herself, creating a hard surface to shield her from the wild slashes aimed at her by the girl in the red dress. Her glyph took the form of a snowflake framed by two circles, similar to the small emblem she had embroidered on the back of her dress, in the corner of the blood-red cross that identified her as a Templar.

Miltia rolled to the side and rose to her feet, avoiding the glyph and allowing her to attack Weiss directly. Weiss avoided the blows by launching herself into a series of backflips, each one only barely managing to keep her out of the reach of the long red and black claws. On her final flip, Weiss was able to kick out with her legs, hitting Miltia in the chest and causing her to stumble backward briefly. This bought Weiss a few seconds to gain solid footing and plan out her next series of attacks.

Her sister's voice spoke loudly in her head. _Remember your training, Weiss. Head up…check. Shoulders back…check. Right foot forward…no, not quite that far forward…slow your breathing…wait for the right time to strike…NOW!_

She sprung forward gracefully in an expert balestra, sword extended, pointing it towards Miltia, trying to end the fight quickly. Miltia leapt over the blade, swinging one of her own towards Weiss' exposed head. Reacting quickly, Weiss adjusted her left arm and drove her sword point first into the ground while using the dust stored in her sword's hilt to generate a thick wall of ice. The ice froze over one of Miltia's claws, stopping them from moving and keeping the girl in one place. Weiss nervously raised her eyes to see just how close she had come… _too close. Much too close._

Miltia started to kick her feet into the ice, causing it to weaken and crack. Meanwhile, with her one free hand she began to pry out the one that was locked in place. Knowing she didn't have long, Weiss rose to her feet to try to eliminate her opponent, but she was suddenly hit by a body flying through midair: Ruby's.

The two girls were thrown backward a dozen feet, ending up in a pile of tangled limbs. Their weapons had been lost when they had hit each other, flying off in opposite directions. _Probably for the best,_ Weiss mused. _I'd hate to have impaled myself on my own sword. Or on that extremely sharp scythe._

Out loud, she swore as she tried to disentangle herself from Ruby. "Oh, you dunce. I was so just about to take care of her."

Ruby was also trying to free herself, and before too long they were able to stand up. Looking around the immediate area, they saw Melanie helping to free her twin sister. _Still, we can't do anything to stop her without our weapons,_ Weiss thought. _Finding them has to be our priority._ Weiss saw her sword had been thrown to the left, while Ruby's scythe had flown in the opposite direction to the right. Running to her sword she heard one final crack as the ice she had kept her opponent in shattered and fell to the ground.

Without looking over her shoulder to see which one of the twins was following her, Weiss dove forward and grabbed her sword, using her momentum and going into a combat roll before coming to her feet and turning around swiftly to face her opponent. Raising her sword, she expertly blocked or redirected the onslaught thrown at her by Miltia, trying to find an opportunity to launch an attack of her own.

Only a few seconds later, her first opening presented itself. Miltia had leapt into the air to try to attack from a different direction, but Weiss was able to roll under it and Miltia at the same time. The girl in red landed but was unable to turn around in time as Weiss swung her rapier at the exposed back.

The girl was protected to some extent by her aura, but the blade still sliced into the skin and muscles of her back, causing her to cry out in pain as she turned around. Weiss pushed her advantage, quickly dropping into a practiced routine of rapid strikes, finally confident in the flow of the battle. Their earlier rapid pace had favored Miltia as much as it had Weiss, leaving the young women evenly matched, but the injury now hampered Miltia's mobility. She was now hard-pressed to deflect the swings Weiss aimed at her, the blows coming in from a variety of angles as Weiss was able to attack relentlessly.

Miltia altered her stance and attempted a semicircular parry, hitting Weiss' sword up high and deflecting it downward across her body. She cried out in pain as she did so, the movement further opening the wound on her back, causing her to be unable to trap Weiss' blade and launch a riposte.

Weiss knew her opponent was beat, but she didn't allow herself to lose focus or to gloat. Too often she had seen experienced combatants lose after they relaxed their guard. She retreated backward a few steps, thinking quickly. _Limited mobility, loss of stamina…lunge, beat attack, remise._ She crouched low and then began to execute her attacks, striking rapidly at her opponent.

The series was too much for Miltia, who was barely able to parry the first few attacks. She was not as lucky as the exchange continued, and Weiss scored several hits against her, causing her more pain and forcing her to drop to the ground after a cut to the calf left her unable to stand.

Weiss carefully approached Miltia, knowing that an injured and cornered animal is often the most dangerous. _Do I kill her?_ she wondered. _She did attack me…_

Weiss kicked her roughly in the head, the heel of her boot knocking Miltia unconscious. _N_ _o, I'd better not. We might need her._

Her battle finished, she was able to turn her attention to the scene around her. Hearing a loud crash, she turned quickly and saw Junior fall to the ground, a large crater in the building he had been tossed into. _At least two down…where did the third go?_ She caught Yang's eye and the blonde girl waved cheerfully.

 _There,_ she thought. Ruby was crouched down next to the girl in white, apparently cradling her head in her arms.

* * *

Ruby swung her scythe around several times rapidly before slamming the point down into the concrete, pointing the end of the gun barrel at the girl in the white dress that ran towards her.

 _Bang! Bang! Bang!_ The shots rang out as Ruby fired, opening and closing the breech as fast as she could. The shots forced Melanie to halt her charge, her focus on avoiding the bullets instead of closing ground.

 _How did she do that?_ Ruby wonderedabout it. after her next shot had launched herself into a front flip heel-kick, deflecting the last round Ruby had fired at her. Ruby didn't stop firing, even as Melanie continued to deflect the bullets with her heels or avoid them entirely.

Melanie was finally close enough to start an attack of her own, forcing Ruby to swing her scythe in a circle to deflect the series of kicks that the girl in white aimed at her. The parries left Melanie unbalanced briefly. Ruby continued to spin Crescent Rose, attempting to build the necessary momentum to swing it offensively.

Spinning it over her head, Ruby brought the about blade slicing through the air, aimed at Melanie. Knowing she couldn't duck under a downward swing, and correctly assuming it would be hard for Ruby to change direction after having built up so much momentum, Melanie split to the side and swept at Ruby's leg, knocking Ruby off her feet and then kicking her again to knock her backward.

Ruby flew through the air and into Weiss, dropping her scythe as she did so. _Oh no oh no oh no,_ she said to herself. She fought to free herself from the mass of arms and legs that she and Weiss had formed when they collided, then as soon as she regained her footing she ran to the right where her scythe had landed.

M elanie saw where Ruby was headed and attempted to get there first, arriving only barely before Ruby did. She quickly kicked the scythe further out of reach, then followed up with a aflurry of jump-kicks aimed at Ruby's torso. Ruby dropped to her knees and slid under the kicks, then drew one of the throwing knives she had attacked to the belt around her waist. She turned just in time to see Melanie standing on her right leg, lashing out rapidly with her left. Ruby raised her forearm in time to deflect the first in the series, but Melanie recovered quickly and was once more able to hit the young assassin with a solid kick from the side.

Ruby landed roughly, dropping the knife that she had just about drwadddddrawn and rolling onto her back, only barely managing to catch Melanie's heel as the girl attempted to stomp Ruby while she lay defenseless on the ground. Melanie pushed off the ground, forcing Ruby to hold all of her weight while she kicked at her with her free leg.

The kick caused Ruby to lose her grip on Melanie's foot. Now it was Melanie who fell hard to the ground. Ruby seized her opportunity to use her semblance, speeding off in a wave of rose petals, headed towards her scythe. _I need to end this fight quickly,_ she thought. _The longer it goes on, the more openings I give her._ Her uncle, when he had trained her, had wanted her to be able to fight someone head on. After he had left, though… _As an assassin, it wasn't as important. Surprise and stealth are my weapons now, not strength. How can I surprise someone that already knows I'm here?_

The answer hit her almost as soon as she asked the question, and she stopped running for her scythe and turned back toward Melanie. She managed to catch the foot of the surprised girl and twisted, throwing her off-balance and driving her into the ground. Acting quickly, Ruby spun herself around, extended the hidden blade on her left arm, and drove it into Melanie's stomach.

Melanie gasped in pain and shock. "My-my-my sis-sis-sister…" She was having trouble speaking.

"Ssshhh," Ruby attempted to calm her, holding her head in her arms. "It is over now…"

"My sister, she needs me," Melanie gasped. She looked deep into Ruby's silver eyes. "I'm scared."

Ruby spared a glance over to where Weiss was standing over the limp body of Melanie's sister, and then back down at the girl she had just stabbed. _It's a bad wound, yes, but she might just be able to survive it. Her aura should help her to heal._ "Your sister will live, I think. You…you might as well."

"I'm sorry. It's all my fault." Her voice was soft, hard to hear. "Tell her. I'm sorry."

Ruby gently lowered Melanie's head to the sidewalk. _Maybe, just maybe she'll survive._ Standing, she walked over to her sister, who stared at her in shock.

"Ruby? Are you hurt?" Yang grabbed her sister and started checking her over for wounds. "All this blood, Ruby, tell me you're okay."

"I'm fine," Ruby mumbled. "It's...it's not mine…" She motioned vaguely to the girl lying motionless behind her. "A lot's changed since you left..."

Weiss walked over, joining the two women. She crouched down and checked Junior's pulse. "Well, you left him alive, I'll give you that. Still, we can't question him when he's like this. How long do you think before he wakes up?"

Yang was finally convinced that Ruby wasn't hurt, and tuned towards the heiress. "All right, someone needs to explain to me what's going on here. Ruby, what's happened to you since I left you with Uncle Qrow? Why are you here in the shady side of the city at three in the morning? Did you just kill that girl? And who in the world are you?"

"We're looking for Roman Torchwick," Ruby began. "Yang, this is Weiss-"

"She's Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, one of the largest producers of energy propellant in the world. The same company infamous for its controversial labor forces and questionable business partners."

 _Who was that?_ Ruby guessed at the direction the voice came from, and tried to peer into the dark alley between two nearby buildings. "Uh, come on out of there," she called, less than convincingly.

"I'd rather not," came the reply. "Either the police or Junior's thugs will probably be here any second now, but I'm guessing whoever is here first probably won't waste too much time asking questions."

"Nonsense," Weiss said. "We came here to help the police, and these thugs attacked us first. We have no reason to worry."

"Actually, she has a point," Yang corrected her. "Junior's connected all over town. A lot of his friends won't be too happy about what happened here tonight, and the police don't take too kindly to kids causing trouble and trying to do their work for them. We need to get out of here."

"I suggest the rooftop," came the voice from the alley. "Meet me up there. I might be able to help you."

* * *

"Did you learn what you wanted to?" Glynda asked.

Ozpin lowered his scroll, placing it on the desk and clasping his hands together in thought. He closed his eyes, mentally piecing together what he had just seen. _If only the camera had been close enough to catch what they said._ "Contact our friend in the police department. We need to have that camera footage deleted. Then encourage them to drop the case."

"That didn't answer my question."

Ozpin breathed deeply. "Exactly." He waved dismissively. "Leave me. You have your assignment."

Glynda walked out of the room, shutting the door behind her. As soon as she was gone, Ozpin picked up the scroll and typed out a short message: _Are you with us?_

The animation indicated the message sent successfully. Now, to wait for the reply…


	5. Chapter 5: Keeper of the Lions Passant

**Chapter 5: Keeper of the Lions Passant**

Ruby led the way up the side of the building, followed by her sister and Weiss. Though both were capable in a wide variety of pursuits, neither was as experienced at free climbing as the young assassin, and were having more than a little difficulty.

"Was this really necessary?" Weiss asked, struggling to reach up to where a beam jutted out of the house. "It would have been far easier for us to break the lock on one of the doors and use the stairs."

"I gotta say, she has a point," Yang agreed. She was even worse at climbing than Weiss was.

Ruby didn't say anything in reply. She had certainly considered smashing a door or a window, but had purposely led them this way to show them that she could do it. She wanted to make Yang proud of her, and Weiss…well, Weiss was still mostly an enemy, and it couldn't hurt to have an enemy realize you're better than they are. _Let's see what they think of this,_ she thought to herself. Pausing her climb, she leaned back from the wall and turned her neck around, looking at the wall of the building about five feet away. _Perfect. That'll do nicely._ She leaned in close to the wall, set her feet, and pushed off from it, spinning herself around as she did so. She extended her right arm and grabbed onto the bars set against a window, while using her left hand to prevent herself from smashing into it. She landed gracefully and looked down at her companions, smiling gleefully at them. "This is easy. What are you two complaining about?"

"Whoa, sis," Yang said from down below. "Weiss, you see that? She just leapt across the alley like it was nothing."

Weiss gave a low growl in answer. "This is a waste of time. I don't know why I'm letting myself get ordered around by this child." She pursed her lips together in concentration as she arranged several of her floating glyphs in the air, starting near her foot and ascending like a staircase. She let go of the building and landed on the first one, then jumped to each of the others in turn, the white snowflakes disappearing as soon as she left them behind. It took only seconds for her to reach the top of the building, where she looked down on the two sisters. "This was easy. What are you two still doing down there?"

"Oh yeah, I can live with that," Yang said. She too let go of the building, firing her gauntlets downward as she started to fall. The blasts of energy lifted her up rapidly, and as she reached the top of her arc she fired again before she could fall. She did a somersault in midair as she rose above the lip of the building, then dropped into a roll as she landed right next to the ice princess. "Nailed it," she said as she stood, a smile covering her face. She joined Weiss in looking down at Ruby. "C'mon sis, what are you waiting for?"

 _That didn't go according to plan at all,_ Ruby thought. _I had the most problems in our fight, and now I'm the last one to the top of the building. I wanted to impress them, but instead they showed me up._

She realized that she shouldn't let it bother her. Did she really have to prove herself? Weiss had already admitted to her that she needed her to find Roman, and Yang was her sister. _I want them to know I can do this. That's all_. She heard Weiss shout down to her, telling her to hurry up. _I just wanted her to know I could do this…_

Oh well. Nothing to do now but to go as fast as she could. She resumed her climb up the wall of what seemed to be an abandoned warehouse, the iron bars on the window assisting her with her rapid ascent. Reaching the top, she used her semblance to cross over the small divide between the two rooftops. Weiss gave her an annoyed look while Yang looked around the roof, hoping to find the girl that had asked them to meet her up here.

The rooftop was largely open, with just a few utilities occupying the large space. Yang first noticed there didn't seem to be easy access to the roof from inside the building. _Maybe smashing a door down wouldn't have helped as much as we would have thought,_ she wondered. The next item to catch her eye was an HVAC system, about ten feet by twenty feet, that was near the opposite edge of the rooftop. _She could be hiding behind that easily enough._ She began to make her way over to it, only faintly paying attention to the argument that had apparently risen between the two girls behind her.

 _I haven't seen Ruby in so long,_ she thought. _She's changed so much! And grown so big! There's so much I need to ask her. How's our uncle doing? When did she arrive in Vale? And what's the story with her partner? You don't need to be a genius to notice there is some tension between the two of them. What was her sister doing with Weiss Schnee? What was Weiss Schnee doing fighting with a club owner and his bodyguards in the shady side of Vale?_ Yang wasn't overly invested in the politics or business of the other kingdoms, but even she had heard of the Schnee Dust Company.

"Why are you always rushing into things without thinking?" _Ouch,_ Yang thought. _That was loud._ She turned around to look at what was happening between her sister and Weiss.

"I'm not rushing into them!" Ruby protested.

"Oh yeah? Then what do you call running into that fight down there? Then you agree to meet with a shady girl that refuses to show us her face. And now you've tried to lead us up the side of a building. You don't ever stop to think!" Weiss had been waving her arms around, but now had her finger directly in Ruby's face as she yelled at her.

"Yang's my sister, Weiss. I needed to help her. And that shady girl could help us."

"And climbing the building? What was your reason for that stupid decision?" She took to pacing back and forth. _She seems to do that a lot,_ Yang thought. _Maybe it's a coping mechanism for her; something to distract her mind._

Ruby didn't have an answer ready for that one. _She wanted to show off,_ Yang thought. _That should be obvious. She's trying to impress us for some reason._

"The shady girl's name is Blake." The voice once again came out of the darkness, the owner apparently still unwilling to show her face.

"Ok, ok…let's all put on the _Blakes_ on your arguing for a moment and listen to what she has to say," Yang said, emphasizing the word Blakes.

Weiss stopped her pacing immediately and looked at Yang. Ruby buried her face in her palm. Blake came out from behind the HVAC system timidly. "Was that a…was that supposed to be a pun?" she asked. She took another few steps further out from cover, waiting for an answer.

"You know it," Yang said, smiling broadly. She formed pistols with her fingers and pretended to fire them at the new girl.

"Oh god that was terrible," said Weiss.

"Trust me, Wiess, it uh, it could've been worse. It could've been much, much worse," said Ruby. "But yes, that was terrible."

 _Don't take it personal Yang,_ Yang thought to herself. _It'll grow on them. They don't know who they're dealing with yet._ "Oh Weiss, it's okay. You're just jealous you didn't _Schnee_ her coming…"

Ruby giggled at that one, her face still hidden behind her hand, and Blake joined her as Weiss stared at Yang dumbfounded. "Please. Just stop. I just told Ruby that I didn't know her well enough for jokes yet…and I certainly don't know you well enough."

 _Oh, it's on now,_ Yang thought, grinning. _Time to hammer it home._ "Please, Weiss, don't by _Yang-_ ry with me. I saw an opening…" She trailed off as she spoke, ready for the last one.

Ruby was laughing loudly now. Blake shifted her eyes from Ruby to Weiss to Yang, seemingly still unsure of her own safety. Weiss closed her eyes and counted to ten. She opened them and saw Yang with her head cocked slightly to the side, obviously waiting for something.

She gave in. "Just say it."

Yang nearly squealed in delight. "I saw an opening, so I _Rose_ to the occasion." She wiped her hands together, pantomiming a job well done.

Weiss turned her attention away from Yang and to the quiet girl that had led them to the roof. She seemed scared of the three of them, like a pet that had been beaten by its masters. She had a sword of some type tied to her back, and her hand over her shoulder gripping the hilt tightly. Her eyes were quickly switching from one place to another, attempting to take in every detail at every second.

"So, are you a team?" Blake asked.

The three girls looked at each other in confusion and shrugged. _It's too early to tell,_ seemed to be Ruby's answer. _Sure, why not?_ seemed to be Yang's.

 _What do I think?_ Weiss asked herself. _Ruby and I are a team, at least, even if we don't want to be. We agreed to that back at the station; we agreed that we would work together until Roman is found and brought to justice. Yang seemed to be able to handle herself in a fight, though what she wants is a mystery._

"We're not really a team, at least not yet." Ruby had taken it upon herself to answer Blake's question. _Running ahead again without thinking first,_ Weiss noted sourly.

"So what are you then?" Blake asked. She shifted from foot to foot, and finally appeared to stop viewing the three girls as likely to kill her. "You said you wanted information on Roman Torchwick. Why?"

"I don't have a clue what you're talking about," Yang said.

 _She almost seems excited to not know anything,_ Weiss thought. _What could life like that be like? To be so unconcerned with everything that was going on around you. To have the freedom to make such terrible jokes._ It wasn't just Yang that did it, though. _I've only known Ruby for a few hours now, and she's already felt comfortable enough with me that she made a joke too. Maybe because they're sisters they have the same personality?_ Weiss looked at them carefully. _They don't look like sisters though. And Ruby definitely seems to have more worries than Yang does…_

No one in Weiss' family had ever made jokes with the ease or naturalness those two did. No one in her family had ever seemed to be comfortable with random strangers. They had even never seemed comfortable with each other. Family dinners were quiet, reserved events. Playtime was nonexistent. Everything was scheduled, planned, thought out in advance and in great detail. There had never been a place for spontaneity.

Now though... _in just a short time, it seems like everything has changed. I'm here, on a rooftop, meeting with a stranger…after fighting a woman I don't even know because she was there…after being sent on a mission with almost no preparation by Ozpin…and after deciding to reveal my weakness to, not just a girl I barely know, but to a girl I barely know that is also a member of an organization I have been raised since birth to despise. Why did I feel comfortable enough with her to do that? I never even like to share my weaknesses or failings with Winter._

"Weiss? Are you okay?" Ruby's voice brought her back to the present, and she realized that the three girls were all staring at her as if waiting for something.

"I'm sorry. What was that?" she asked.

"Blake asked us why we were looking for Roman Torchwick, and I said you could probably tell her more about it than I could."

"Of course. Roman Torchwick is a wanted criminal, so Ruby and I were asked by Professor Ozpin, the headmaster at Beacon Academy, to help the police to locate him, and to bring him in ourselves if we find him. I'm a new transfer student there, and Ruby is, well, she's the one he paired me with."

"He asked you to find Torchwick, but didn't tell you where he was? And you don't know where he is?" Blake asked. She sounded like she didn't believe Weiss.

 _She knows something._ "Of course not. If he knew where he was hiding, he'd have told the police or Professor Goodwitch. He wouldn't have needed us."

Blake started to back away, her hand returning to the sword on her back. "Are you sure? Because I saw Roman Torchwick last night, and he had that same symbol- "she pointed with her left hand to the Templar cross that Weiss wore- "on the back of his jacket. So you must know each other."

"Wait," Yang said. "I don't understand any of this. What is that symbol? Are you all in a club or something?"

Ruby put her hand on her sister's shoulder. "Yang, do you remember how Uncle Qrow used to always be going off on missions? After you left, he told me about his family's history. About our history. We're not just huntsman and huntresses, Yang. There's so much more out there in the world. This symbol here, it represents what our family has been a part of for generations." She placed her hand on one of the two brooches that held her cloak in place. "This stands for the Assassins." She moved her hand and cautiously touched Weiss' back, causing the girl to tense up. _Relax,_ Weiss thought. _Breath regularly._ She took a deep breath. _It's just that her hand is so warm._ "This symbol, this cross, represents the Templar Order. They and the assassins have been enemies for hundreds of years." Ruby drew her hand from Weiss' back slowly.

Weiss let out a breath that she hadn't realized she was holding as the warmth left. _Didn't I just remind myself to breathe?_

"So, if you and Weiss are supposed to be enemies, then why are you working together?" Yang asked. "I mean, I guess you're working together. You showed up together and fought together, but you also fought together, if you get my meaning."

"Well, that's a long story, and really not one for right now. Professor Ozpin told me that not everything was as it seemed to be…maybe they had some sort of disagreement?" Ruby said.

"I for one don't really think it matters," Weiss stated. "Everyone in this city would agree with the fact that he is a wanted criminal. I was told to find him, so that is what I'm going to do. The police had wanted to look into Junior, which is why we came here, but Yang had to go and knock him unconscious, so we don't get anything out of him. You said you saw him last night? Where was he? We need to find him."

The sound of sirens caused the girls to go into high alert and drop down, taking cover behind the small brick parapet set up around the rooftop to prevent falls. Cautiously, they raised their heads up and looked over it, seeing a swarm of police cars arrive at the ruined club.

"They took longer than I would've thought," said Yang.

"Still, it's good you had us meet you up here on the roof," said Ruby. "If we were still standing down there, we'd have a lot of explaining to do." She looked at all the officers as they walked around with guns drawn. Two checked Junior and Miltia's pulse, then put them in handcuffs as a matter of course. Another knelt next to Melanie and called for an ambulance.

"You're welcome," Blake replied. "Why were you there?" she asked Yang.

"Well, I was there looking for someone too," she whispered. "That is also a long story. But I'm willing to put my search on hold for a little while to help catch a criminal."

Blake nodded. "I was looking for someone too." The four girls continued to look over the side of the building as the police began to enter the club. _I doubt that anyone was stupid enough to stay in there,_ Blake thought. _But they might find evidence of anything illegal Junior was doing._ "I'm still curious what's happening here. When I saw Torchwick, he was with a whole bunch of the White Fang. I don't know why they'd be working together, but that would have to be bad for all of us."

Yang started counting off reasons on her fingers, "Known criminal, violent terrorist group, lots of mystery, and the promise of action. Four good reasons to stay with all of you. What do you say we do this, together?" She put her hand out, holding it in the middle of the group.

"I just want to help people," Ruby said. She joined her hand with her sister's.

 _This might not be so bad an idea. If they were going to attack me, they probably would have done it by now. They seem honest enough in what it is they're trying to do._ "I'm willing to listen to what you have to say," Blake said cautiously. Her hand joined the pile. _I hope that this wasn't a mistake._

The three of them looked at Weiss, who was hesitant to commit herself.

"What do you say Weiss? Are you with me?" Ruby asked earnestly. "I mean, with us?"

Weiss began to stretch her hand out, slowly at first. "Only until we find Torchwick," she said. She put her hand on top of the other three.

"Thatta girl, Weiss…after all, if we're going to be working out of Beacon," she giggled uncontrollably. "We're going to _Schneed_ you."

Blake, Ruby and Weiss all groaned. _Oh no. Please tell me she isn't going to be doing this all the time._ "Is it too late to take it back?" asked Blake.

* * *

 **A/N:** Five chapters in, and so far I hope you've been enjoying it. Please take the time to leave a review; I often write multiple versions of a chapter and then agonize over which to publish, and reviews can help…for the last chapter the original version had Melanie die after Ruby stabbed her. I decided against it, and then a review came in stating that hopefully she lives…you have a voice, people. Please use it! This is especially so if you notice any grammatical or spelling errors. I read it through several times before posting, but every once in a while something slips through the cracks, as it were.

Also, I hope that you're able to tell who is currently doing the thinking (also when someone is thinking- normally, but not always, indicated by italics.) While it does change throughout the chapter, I try to keep it consistent for several paragraphs at a time. I also try to make the change easily apparent. If it isn't clear, again, please let me know so I can improve on it.

Спасибо .


	6. Chapter 6: Hungerer of Knowledge

**A/N:** After a month away, I'm back! For you today is an all-new chapter, an all-new title, and (maybe in another week or so; I have never had much success in my attempts to draw RWBY accurately) some all new cover art! I don't know exactly how emails regarding updates work, but if they send them out for when I update chapters already published, then you will be getting several emails because I went through and edited each of the first five chapters for grammar and spelling mistakes as well as putting a little extra polish on certain scenes and clearing up any inconsistencies that I noticed already sprouting. This is mainly for the benefit of new readers; I don't think there is anything there that would necessitate reading it through again (unless, of course, you want to. Then by all means, feel free to do so!)

Итак, вернёмся к нашим баранам…

* * *

 **Chapter 6: Hungerer of Knowledge**

Only the earliest rays of the morning sun were appearing over the horizon as the airship flew away from the city of Vale and towards the prestigious Beacon Academy, slowly climbing silently as the powerful engine pushed the ship forward through the air towards its destination. A flock of birds followed alongside the ship, enjoying the relaxed ease that came from flying in its wake.

Apart from the pilots, locked away in the cockpit to the front, the four young women were the only ones aboard. Blake sat in a row by herself, looking out the window. She was just able to see the reflections of her…teammates…as they each carried on by themselves, absorbed in their own inner monologues. She didn't care for that word, teammates. She had a teammate once, a partner, and he had hurt her. _Will these women hurt me as well?_ she asked herself. She turned the question over and over in her mind, trying to come to an answer. She couldn't. She didn't know enough to make a decision about it yet. _But my instinct says that yes, they easily could._

Each of them seemed more likely to hurt themselves though, if she was to be honest. They certainly all seemed to have problems of their own. She touched her bow gingerly, making sure it was still solidly in place. It wouldn't do any good for them to know who she truly was. What she truly was. Not now, not ever.

Her hidden ears twitched ever so slightly, and she focused on the noise she could just barely hear. _Humming,_ she realized. She tilted her head to the side as she looked away from the window briefly, towards the three other passengers on the Bullhead. Ruby was pacing the aisle repeatedly, Weiss sat by herself at the end of a row, and Yang was sprawled over several chairs, laying on her back while shadow boxing the air above her. The source of the humming was… _Weiss Schnee._ A familiar name among the Faunus, and not for her prodigious musical talents. She was sitting, eyes closed, legs crossed and hands neatly folded in her lap. Blake returned her gaze to the window, looking at the reflection of the heiress in the small window. She didn't know much about the girl, to be honest. Most of what she had heard was propaganda from underground news reports. She didn't look as threatening as she had been described. Every bit as imperious- that certainly couldn't be denied- but not nearly as imperial. In person, she looked…frail, almost. Like a fine Mistral vase, beautiful but delicate. She certainly didn't fit the boogeyman persona that Blake had heard used to describe her throughout her entire life. _Back on the rooftop,_ she thought, _she had been the most reluctant to join us. Can I blame her? We're not a very reputable crew._ Blake sighed quietly and flicked her eyes in turn to the reflection of each of the other two women. _Ruby, the Assassin. Yang, the thrill-seeker._

Her eyes unfocused, causing the other women to blur. She shook her head to clear her mind, and met her own eyes. _And me, the wildcard._

 _Ruby, the Assassin._ She decided to focus on the scythe-wielder next. Was that description of her fair, or bromidic? Earned, or simply assigned? Was it fair to define a woman, to distill down her entire essence, to judge her entirely, with just three words? _Just take it one word at a time. Ruby…_ Blake nodded slightly. _Yes, that fits._ Red clothes, red tips to her hair, the flower emblem on her belt. _But the Assassin?_ She didn't know much about the secretive order, only what she had read in a few older books that she had to assume were truthful, but she knew what the word meant at least. _Assassin. Murderess._ A chill ran down her spine. _Killer._ Ruby hadn't killed that woman back at the club, even in self-defense. She had stabbed her, true, but she had clearly been alive when the police loaded her into the ambulance and led her away. Ruby hadn't killed Weiss, and they were supposed to be enemies…

 _Oh well,_ Blake thought. There would more time to worry about that later. For now, there was only one more for her to study. _Yang, the thrill-seeker._ Maybe the joker would be the better qualifier for the chippy blonde girl. She had taunted Junior during their fight, and then, on the rooftop, she was so quick with the jokes. _Those terrible, terrible puns._ Despite her thoughts, Blake found her lips curving upwards in a smile. _They may have been terrible, but there was something there. The honest delivery, or perhaps the clear excitement. As terrible as they were, she believed in them, and that was half the battle._ What was her horse in this race? She had said she was looking for someone, but hadn't said who it was. _Join the club,_ she thought wryly. _We play hide and seek all week._

Blake made a mental list of what she knew about her companions, one by one. _Weiss Schnee: proud, arrogant and frightened of failure. For some reason, she's willing to work with an Assassin. Ruby Rose: eager to please others, uncertain of what to do and a bit of a showoff. For some reason, she's willing to work with a Templar. Yang…_ Blake pursed her lips as she realized she hadn't gotten the last girl's full name. Oh well. She had said she was Ruby's sister, so it must be Rose as well. Funny, though, that they didn't really look very similar. _Yang Rose: uses humor to throw others off balance._ Compared to all the questions she had about each of them, the one or two facts were paltry.

There was a slight jolt as the ship extended the landing gear and came to a rest on the school grounds. Blake hadn't realized they were as close as they were. Either that, or she had been lost in thought for longer than she had realized. A prerecorded message began to play as the doors hissed open, and Blake stood and joined Ruby, Weiss and Yang in exiting the airship. The wide-open area the ship had landed in was well-lit by several lampposts. Standing in the center of one of the pools of light was a tall woman in a high-waisted pencil skirt, black boots and a purple cape. She had her arms crossed, but was otherwise standing strictly at attention, her back perfectly straight. Blake focused on her eyes through the woman's glasses, trying to get a reading of the woman's intentions. Whoever it was, it seemed she had been waiting for them, and that Ruby and Weiss recognized her. Weiss gave her a salute as she approached, and Blake heard a name: Professor Goodwitch.

"About time you've returned, Miss Schnee, Miss Rose," she said, apparently angry at having been kept waiting. "I see you've brought some strays along with you…it's just as well. Professor Ozpin would like to meet with you again. Follow me, ladies." Blake felt her cheeks redden at the word strays, and hoped no one would notice her embarrassment. She met Yang's glance, and the blonde shrugged as she followed Professor Goodwitch away from the bullhead and towards the clock tower that dominated the central square of the school yard.

* * *

Yang groaned internally as she threw another punch, and moved her right hand to rub the opposite shoulder. Her semblance may allow her to channel the pain from getting hit into boosting her own strength, but it didn't do anything to actually lessen the effects. It still left her to suffer from every hit that landed. Despite the relative ease with which she had dismantled Junior, he had still managed to lay a decent attack on her. Her adrenaline and semblance had worn off now, and her shoulder was killing her.

She experimentally threw a rapid series of jabs with her left hand, testing the extent of the damage to her shoulder. Satisfied that she would recover after a good sleep, she returned to her shadow boxing as she lay stretched across several chairs on the nearly empty ship.

 _Beacon Academy,_ she thought to herself. She had dreamed of attending, a long time ago. A lifetime ago. Back on Patch, it had been a common dream of most of the children that she had known growing up. _Attend Beacon, train hard, fight harder and then travel the world. That was the dream. When had it changed?_ She knew the answer to her own question. _It changed the day that I found her picture in my dad's old yearbook. It changed the day I realized I had been lied to my entire life._

She forgot for a second that she was laying down and tried to bob her head as she would if she was actually fighting, resulting in her hitting it against the back of the chair her head rested on. She laughed at her stupidity and shifted her attention away from her mother to the sister that had shown up unexpectedly.

 _Ruby, what happened to you after I left? You barely look like the kid sister I remember. And what's with all this talk of secret orders of assassins that their family was a part of? How had that never been mentioned at the dinner table growing up?_ Her internal voice shifted to imitate her father. _'This is some good turkey, isn't it? Oh, by the way, you're all part of a secret society dedicated to fighting injustice. Could you pass the gravy, please?'_ It all seemed so ridiculous.

But, she couldn't argue with what she had seen with her own two eyes. She had seen her sister, suspiciously not residing in safety with their uncle, swinging a weapon taller than she was around with skill before using some hidden knife on her wrist to stab some woman. _There had been so much blood…it's a wonder that the girl survived._

That thought sobered Yang up. She didn't like to think about things like that. It was much better to focus on the here, and the now, rather than the future or what could've been. Much better. Much easier. So what was the here and now? _It all seemed so clear on the rooftop,_ she thought. _It hadn't been the most thought-out plan of all time, but we seemed to agree on a purpose._ She thought about the three other women that she currently shared the cabin with. "Yeah, we're a real bang-up team here," she muttered under her breath. Sure, they had joined hands on the rooftop and shouted out some empty words about working together. Together, they had fled as soon as the police had left the club across the street and given them the opportunity to leave without being seen. Together, they had run through the streets of the city, away from the slums and towards the station. Together, they had paid the airfare and boarded the ship they were currently on. Together, but in silence. Together in body; alone in spirit.

The silence had bothered Yang more than anything else. _On the rooftop, we agreed to help each other, even if we each had our own reason to do it. God knows I did, at least. Maybe it was too much to expect us to all be friends…scratch that, it had certainly been too much to expect us to instantly become friends. But we didn't say…anything. Ruby didn't say anything._ That change in her sister was perhaps the scariest of all the ones she had seen. Ruby had always been prone to chattering when she was nervous, or with new people. She shouldn't have shut up the entire time, but instead she hadn't said a word. _Can I blame her?_ Yang asked herself. _I did abandon her, left her behind without a 'How do you do?'._

The ship settled on the ground, and Yang was quick to stand up and exit into the early morning. Standing several yards away was a strict-looking woman, tall even without the heels she was wearing, who seemed to be waiting for them.

"Good morning, Professor Goodwitch," Weiss said as they approached, clicking her boots together as she threw a smart salute.

"About time you've returned, Miss Schnee, Miss Rose. I see you've brought some strays along with you… It's just as well. Professor Ozpin would like to meet with you again. Follow me, ladies." Yang caught Blake's eye, and she shrugged as she moved into step to follow Goodwitch away from the bullhead. _Too late to back out now. I guess we'll get to see the wizard._

"Who are your new friends?" Goodwitch asked.

"That's my sister," Ruby said cheerfully, throwing her arm over Yang's shoulder. "And that one is Blake."

"And how did you meet them?"

"Well, we were looking for Roman Torchwick, as you sent us off to, and we went to this club owned by someone who apparently keeps track of stuff like that, and there was a fight, and then we ran up to the rooftop to avoid the police, and then-"

"Quiet," Goodwitch said harshly. "That's enough." There was a pause in the conversation before she continued. "I'm sorry, you were only answering the question that I had asked you. I shouldn't have yelled at you in that way. You can tell Professor Ozpin the full story. I've heard enough. You weren't able to find Torchwick, I assume?"

 _Yikes,_ Yang thought. _And I thought Weiss was crabby. If this is where she's from, it's no wonder where she got it. I used to want to come here?_

"Regretfully, no, we were unable to," Weiss said. "But we have a promising lead, at least." The women reached the clock tower and walked up the steps to the main entrance, going through the door and stepping into the elevator. Professor Goodwitch hit the button to take them to the top floor, and the doors slid shut. Yang started to dance to the music coming from the speakers, pointedly ignoring the stares from the other women. _Chill out and relax a little, ladies. Kick back and have some fun every once in a while. It isn't the end of the world._

The elevator came to a stop and chimed as the door opened, showing a large office with a desk with a chair on each side of it, overlooking the schoolgrounds and, far off into the distance, the city of Vale. Behind the desk, mug in one hand and a cane grasped tightly in the other, sat an older man with grey hair.

"Thank you, Professor Goodwitch. You may leave us, please. We'll talk more after your classes for the day have finished." If the woman was upset at being dismissed so easily, it didn't show on her face or through her posture. She bowed her head politely at the man and reentered the elevator, crossing her hands in front of her as the doors closed and she was lowered back to the lobby. "Now then," the man continued. "I see we have two new faces here. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Professor Ozpin. I am the headmaster at this academy."

Yang had heard the name before, as had most of the citizens of Vale. The headmaster at Beacon Academy was responsible for training the next generation of hunters and huntresses. He was the one in charge of keeping the city safe. But she had never met the man before, and was a little underwhelmed by his appearance. It seemed to be a mix of opposites: his hair was wild, but his clothing neat. The cane at his side suggested an infirmity, but his voice and posture betrayed no such weakness.

"You know my name now, if you wouldn't mind returning the favor…" he continued before trailing off, giving them the chance to answer him.

"Blake Belladonna," the raven-haired girl to her side said.

"And I'm Yang Xiao-Long. I'm Ruby's big sister," she said loudly, extending her hand forward to shake the headmaster's. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Blake wrinkle her forehead in confusion, but she didn't dwell on it for long. Ozpin chuckled lightly and placed his mug on his desk, reaching over it to shake the blonde's proffered hand.

"And how did you come to be here?" he asked. He rested his elbows on the desk and folded his hands together under his chin. "I'm sure there is a story here. I sent these two out to find me one criminal, and they come back with two upstanding young ladies. At least, I can only assume that description fits you…" He smiled at his small joke and looked at the women through his dark glasses.

The ladies, in turn, stood around confused, either unsure of where to start or simply unwilling to be the first to speak. Finally, it was Ruby who decided to step forward. "Professor Ozpin, Weiss and I entered into the city and began to search for the man known as Junior. We had come to an agreement that finding out what he might know would be the best course of action to pursue. We arrived at his nightclub in time to find my sister," here Ruby gestured to the blonde who stood beside her, "throw Junior through a window. We became guilty by association with her, so he and two of his goons attacked us, forcing us to defend ourselves. We did so, but drew the attention of the police in the process. Also, while kind enough to keep Junior alive, Yang didn't really leave him in any condition to speak, so we couldn't get anything out of him…" She trailed off, watching the man who only a few hours ago she had been determined to kill, wondering what his response would be.

"I see," he said simply. He paused and took a sip from his mug. "I must confess I now fear for the safety of all glass on this campus. It seems barging through windows is a family tradition," he continued on, bringing back to the young girl's mind the window that she had smashed earlier. Ruby looked around the office, noticing for the first time that it seemed to have already been repaired. _Strange that he would be able to have that done so quickly,_ the assassin thought to herself. _How did he get a crew here so late in the night?_ The voice of the professor interrupted her musings, and she listened as he mentioned that only explained one of the two new faces in front of him. She continued her explanation of the night's events.

"Well, after our fight, we were standing around wondering what to do, and trying to make sense of things when we heard a voice from an alley telling us to meet her on the rooftop because she might be able to help us. When we got up there, we found Blake, who has apparently seen Roman Torchwick recently. Then we decided to come back here." Ruby finished the brief recap of what had occurred since they had first left the headmaster's office.

"I see," he repeated. "And what do you plan to do now? Will you continue your hunt? Or will you challenge me and return to the ones who sent you?"

"We want to know more," cut in Weiss, before Ruby had a chance to answer the challenge Ozpin had leveled against her. "Blake said she saw Roman Torchwick, and then she told us that he had a very distinctive symbol on his jacket. _This_ symbol," she said, taking off her own jacket and pointing to the Templar cross emblazoned on it. "You aren't telling us the full story, Professor."

The headmaster was silent for several minutes, staring at the white-haired girl in front of him. After an agonizing wait, he nodded and began to explain. "The young often view the world in terms of black and white, good and evil, right and wrong. There is often no middle ground. You are with someone, or you are against them. This is not necessarily wrong, but it is…limiting, to say the least. Certainly, there are times where there can be only one right answer, but more often than not right and wrong is simply a matter of perspective. How often do the wrongdoers see themselves as the villains? Are they not the heroes of their own story?" He turned his attention here mainly to the two unaffiliated women. "I do not know how much you two know of the forces at play here, but Ruby and Weiss belong to rival organizations that have for centuries dedicated themselves to the eradication of the other." Ruby noticed that he didn't include himself as a member, but didn't have time to question him about it before he continued. "Do either of them view themselves as the villain? As the enemy? As the one who needs to be stopped for the good of humanity?" He spread his hands out wide to the side while speaking. "No. Both Templars and assassins view themselves as the only answer for the ills the world suffers through, when there is a third option present. It is true that Roman Torchwick is of the Templar Order. That does not make him a man worthy of my protection. Look out the windows, please, and tell me what you see." He did not stand himself, but simply spun in his chair to look out at the school.

Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang moved to stand next to the window, gazing out of it. "I see Vale," Yang said.

"Forever Fall," answered Blake.

"Beacon Academy," said Weiss.

 _I see…all of those things, yeah, but that isn't what he wants. What else is there?_ Ruby's eyes flipped between the city in the distance and the buildings that made up the combat school, wondering what Ozpin was playing towards. "I see all the students," she said.

"Ah, exactly. Students who have come here to learn, to better themselves so as to protect the people they care about. Incidentally the same reason, I think, that each of you find yourselves here before me right now. It was my intention for young Miss Rose and Miss Schnee to realize that, despite their upbringing, they can bridge the gap that divides them and work towards a common goal. It is my intention to teach these students the same thing. Unity, togetherness, that is the third option. That is the gospel that I preach." He finished speaking and the girls moved away from the window, Ruby lingering just a bit longer than the others, distracted as she was by a group of four students making their way across the campus, their members unknowingly highlighting the point that Professor Ozpin was making. One girl with orange hair was excitedly dashing from place to place, apparently testing the patience of a boy dressed in green as she tried to drag him along with her. The second pair, meanwhile, was made up of two warriors with a sword and shield but entirely different postures. The woman stood straight and tall, walking forward proudly, while the man slouched forward with his head down.

"How do we know we can trust you?" Blake asked timidly, her eyes twitching towards the elevator. "You claim that there is no right or wrong, and with the same breath ask us to follow your vision for the future because it is the only correct one."

"I did not say that there is no right or wrong. I said there is more to it than that. With time, you may come to a better understanding of the light I shine forth. As far as trusting me goes, at this point in time, you can't. But if you agree to work with me, I will give you reason to. Now then, where did you see Roman Torchwick?"

"He was with the White Fang."

"A known terrorist organization. Well then, perhaps you should focus your attention on them, and hope it leads you to your ultimate prey. In the meantime, you may stay here in one of the dormitories for as long as you wish. Coincidentally, we assign students into teams of four, so you will find the rooms are large enough to support you. Of course, you will need a leader if you are to fit in while you are here. Are you able to name one for yourselves, or should I do so for you?"

The four teenagers looked at each other, uncertainty clear in their eyes. "Very well," Ozpin said. "Miss Rose, I name you as the leader, at least until you can come to a clear consensus among yourselves. I'll have one of the staff here show you to your room. Rest for as long as you need to. You have your work cut out for you. Allow me some time to think before I tell you what the next course of action is. You are dismissed." He stood and extended his hand to the elevator in a clear show that they were to leave.

* * *

Weiss rested her head on the pillow, unwilling and unable to fall asleep just yet. The four teenagers had been able to find some thick curtains to hang over the windows, blocking out the light of the sun that now fully risen above the horizon, but the darkness of the dormitory did little to quell the young woman's mind.

 _What am I supposed to be thinking right now?_ she asked herself. In her opinion, altogether too much had happened in the last six hours, and she was having difficulty processing it all. Their escapades hadn't seemed to bother Blake or Yang too much; both were already fast asleep in the beds on the opposite side of the room; one of them (Yang perhaps?) was snoring heavily. Weiss couldn't sleep, though, and judging by the noise coming from the bed above her, neither could Ruby. She readied herself, afraid to ask the question she was about too, but knowing she viewed it as a necessity before she could fall asleep.

"Ruby?" she asked softly, her voice only a whisper. While there was no overt response, the movement above her stopped. "Ruby?" she asked again, slightly louder but still soft enough to not wake her new roommates. This time, she didn't have to wait long for an audible answer.

"What is it, Weiss?" came the exasperated reply from the younger girl above her.

"I have a question for you, and I want you to be honest with me," she said. "I know that we don't know each other very well, and there isn't any reason for you to do this for me, but it's important to me…" She waited for a reply, but there was none. She decided to take that as an invitation to continue.

"My father, he was a Templar, just like me. He died a few days ago." Saying it aloud made it more real to the fencer, and she had to take a moment to collect herself before continuing. "Actually, he was murdered. Assassinated. By one of you." It was an accusation, but her voice was not angry, merely determined.

"Yes. I know," Ruby replied, her voice drifting down to Weiss. "What's your question, Weiss?"

"Do you know who did it?"

A pause, then, "…Yes."

"Do you know why?"

Another, longer pause. "…Yes."

"Did they have a good reason for it?"

"Why are you asking me this, Weiss?" Ruby asked.

"Please, Ruby, just answer the question."

There were a couple of shakes as the bed moved, and Ruby leaned over the edge, looking down at Weiss and meeting her eyes before answering. "They thought so, at least. But things aren't as clear now as they used to be, are they? For any of us?"

The white-haired woman nodded. "He was my father…"

Ruby swallowed nervously. "I'm sorry, Weiss. I know what it's like to lose a parent."

She shook her head. "No, you don't understand. He was my father, but I didn't love him. Not really. God, that's a terrible thing to say, isn't it? He's only been dead a few days, I should be mourning him. It isn't that I'm glad he's dead; I'm not. It's just that I'm not as hurt by it as I'm supposed to be. He never really cared for me. He didn't view me as a person. I was simply a tool he could use for his own gain." Ruby blinked, likely unsure of what to say in response to that blunt statement. _I don't blame her; I'm not sure what_ I'm _supposed to say next,_ Weiss thought. "I don't know why I'm even telling you this, Ruby. We're supposed to be enemies. All my life, I've been told you're out their waiting to kill me at the first opportunity. But now, it's exactly like what Professor Ozpin was saying about how there is more to the story than just right and wrong. It's like you said just now, things aren't as clear as they used to be. You've had six hours to kill me, and you haven't even tried once. If they lied to me about that, what else have they kept from me, or concealed from me? I feel like I have been lied to my entire life. I don't know what to believe anymore. I don't know what is true anymore. Do you know what I mean?"

There was only a slight pause before Ruby agreed. "Yes, Weiss, I do."

"I just want to know the truth. The truth about who my father was, and who killed him, and why I'm here. What does any of this mean?"

"What would you do if you found out the truth?" Ruby asked.

Weiss shrugged. "Honestly, Ruby, I don't know. But I'd like to have to make that decision."

Ruby pulled herself back up to the bed, her head disappearing from Weiss' line of sight. "Be careful what you wish for, Weiss. The truth can sometimes be painful."

 _She's right, you know,_ Weiss thought. _Knowledge is a sword that can cut the wielder just as well as the one it's used against._ Somehow, though, that reasoning didn't satisfy her anymore. _That's because that's what my father used to tell me whenever I asked him anything._ Now she was in a position to potentially be able to decide for herself what was appropriate and what wasn't. Nothing he had ever done had prepared her for that. "Thank you for listening, Ruby. It uh, it means a lot to me right now. I don't know why, but it does." That was an important question to ask herself. _Why does it feel so good to talk to her? All night she has alternated between being a source of annoyance and one of quiet assurance; equal parts aggression and amicability. What is she to me?_

"Go to sleep, Weiss. We've had a long night, and we're going to have more work to do when we wake up."

Weiss pulled her blanket up over her head, but didn't fall asleep right away. No, for a long time she lay there, listening to the snores coming over from the other side of the room and from above her, wondering what it all meant. Her final thought before succumbing to exhaustion: _What is truth?_


	7. Chapter 7: Making new friends

**Chapter Seven: Making new friends**

"No. No. No. No. No," the man said, using a thick red marker to write large x's on the map of Vale pinned to the wall. "None of these will work," he cursed, angry at himself for having been so careless as to personally accompany the men he had hired to rob the dust store. It had been hard enough to plan the robberies when he had the ability to personally scope out the store's layout and security beforehand; to do so now that the police and store owners knew he was the one behind the string of robberies was unthinkable. _Why did that huntress have to be there?_ he asked himself. _Who buys dust so late at night?_

There was a noise from behind him, and he turned to see one of the members of the White Fang bending over to pick up a box that she had dropped. "Animals," he thought to himself. She gave him a dirty look as she grabbed the box and stood. _Oh, I guess I said it out lout. What do I care if she knows what I think about them? Why do I even bother with them?_ Now that was a question he had been asking himself on a constant basis for the last few weeks. It wasn't that they were useless, not exactly, but they were just so far removed from the professionals that he was more accustomed to dealing with that comparing them wasn't fair. _If I ever need to throw a rally, I know who to call._

He returned his attention to the map of the city pinned to the wall and bit down on the marker held in his hand, furrowing his brow in thought. Finally, he circled a store that he had already robbed once, but one that was far enough removed from the police station that the low risk of capture justified the low reward. "We'll strike here next. They'll have to be happy enough with that, at least for now. Now that we've lost Schnee it's going to be even harder to get as much dust as we need, and now that the burden falls entirely on us we're going to have to be even more careful," he said to his silent companion. _Maybe having the disposable labor the White Fang provides isn't all bad._ He didn't particularly care about the head of the Schnee Dust Company having been killed; they had been distant colleagues at best, polite enemies at worst, and he always viewed the man as having a bit too much undeserved pride in himself. He sent the man a card each year on his birthday just to annoy him and that was about the extent of their relationship. Still, they had held a common goal, and his ability to waylay large shipments of dust before they were officially recorded had been a great help to the organization.

He felt a tug on his sleeve and looked down to see his companion holding out her scroll, the bright screen displaying a picture of the huntress that had interfered earlier that night. He grabbed it roughly and scanned through the blocks of text below her picture, stopping when he read 'Occupation: Professor, Beacon Academy.' He gave the scroll back and smashed his fists onto the table. For a normal huntress, he could have written off her appearance as mere coincidence, but when Beacon Academy was concerned, there was no such thing as coincidence. _What's your game, Ozpin?_ he asked himself. _What is your game?_ He looked down at his companion and considered his next move.

"Call in our usual crew," he ordered her. "Tell them that we're heading out again tonight. We can't afford to be caught, but we can't afford to sit around twiddling our thumbs either."

The woman nodded and stepped away, leaving Roman alone in the room to stare at the map. He picked up his marker and drew a large question mark over Beacon Academy. _What is your game, Ozpin?_

* * *

"Is it still dinner if it's your first meal of the day? Or does that technically make it breakfast?" Ruby mumbled, her cheeks full of food. She swallowed and took a long drink from her glass of milk. "Or is the difference between them the type of food you eat? What do you think?" Sitting across from her was the boy she had seen earlier in the day, along with what she had learned was his assigned team. To her own right were the three other ladies that she was paired with. _My team…_ it was still a strange thought, one that she was having trouble wrapping her head around. _I have a team, and I'm the leader. This is not at all what I expected I'd be doing today._

The blond boy laid his head down on the table and let out a groan, not answering her question. "I don't feel so good," he said instead.

Ruby took another bite of food, relishing the surprisingly good taste. _Apparently they take nutrition seriously here at Beacon…still, it's a shame they don't have more desserts_. That had been one of the first things she had looked for upon entering the cafeteria, but apart from a few varieties of yogurt there wasn't anything with added sugar. "Do you need to go to the bathroom? You look a little green." He really did look unwell. She hoped he wouldn't vomit on her.

"No, I'll be fine. I've just had a rough day." His voice was muffled, since it was directed downward into his lap, and it sounded strained, but Ruby could understand it.

Ruby tried to speak, but her mouth was too full of food. "Uh huh huh, I can huh huh…" Ruby swallowed her food and repeated herself. "Uh huh, I can see that. What happened?"

Jaune groaned again. "You mean you didn't see? I thought everyone saw what happened in class today. It was so embarrassing."

The girl with the bronze armor sitting next to him reached over and patted his arm at this. "It's okay, Jaune," she said reassuringly. "It's only our second day here. We all need to improve. You'll get better soon, you'll see." She removed her hand and returned to her conversation with Weiss.

 _I don't know how much I should say about us. Ozpin didn't say we were a secret, but it was definitely implied that we shouldn't go around shouting it from the rooftops._ "We actually missed class today. We uh, we had a long night. Weiss is really the only one of us who is even supposed to be here. Blake, Yang and I kinda just showed up yesterday, or rather very early this morning." That was all close enough to the truth at least, and maybe it would be enough to satisfy him. If not, Ruby figured that she could always try to distract him somehow.

Jaune raised his head from the table and looked at Ruby. "Really? That's…strange." He furrowed his brow. "That's strange, isn't it?" he asked again, clearly confused.

Ruby nodded. "Yeah, we're probably a unique situation. But we're here now, and I guess that's what matters. Though between you and me," here Ruby lowered her voice and leaned across the table, "I'm not entirely sure that I should be the leader of this team. I don't feel prepared for it at all. How have you handled it?" _There,_ Ruby thought to herself. _Maybe a change in conversation will distract him from why we don't belong._

Her strategy seemed to work, because Jaune took a few seconds to think before answering. "Well, I'm not sure I'm the right one to ask about that. I don't really know what I'm doing either. I guess you just need to trust your teammates? The reason we're all here is to help others, so you have to trust that they'll help you."

 _Trust._ That was a word that was being thrown around a lot, ever since she had first met Ozpin. ' _What is trust?' he had asked me. And what was my reply? 'Trust is something that takes years to build, seconds to break, and forever to repair.' How can I trust my teammates when I've only known them a few hours?_ She looked down the table at her teammates. _The only one that I've known for years is my sister, and I don't even know if I can trust her, or if she'll leave me again like she did last time._ "I know I haven't been here long, but already I'm starting to think coming to this school was a bad idea. I'm only here because I'm a failure."

"No."

Ruby looked up at that. She hadn't been expecting such a simple response, or for it to be delivered so adamantly. "No?" she asked the boy sitting across from her.

"No," he repeated for emphasis. "Look, Ruby, I've only known you for half an hour, so I'm not going to pretend to know your entire life history. But whatever it is, and whatever you were before you came here, you're a leader now. You're no longer allowed to be a failure. Do you know why?"

"No," Ruby said cautiously. "I have a feeling you're going to tell me, though."

"Because it's not just about you anymore. You've got a team now, Ruby. If you fail, you'll be bringing them down with you. Professor Ozpin, when he stood up yesterday and announced in front of everyone that I would lead team Juniper, I thought for sure that I had heard him wrong. 'What can I do that they couldn't?' I asked myself. 'Why would he name me as the leader instead of Pyrrha?' I don't know that I have what it takes; I don't know what he saw in me. But he's been doing this for a long time, so I'm going to have to trust his judgement. So will you."

 _Once again, there's that magic word. Trust. It seems to come so easy to him. Is that a good thing, or a bad? Should I try to be more like that? Should I try to be more trusting? Or will that just open me up to getting hurt?_ She looked at Weiss, sitting straight backed next to her, deep in her own conversation with Pyrrha. _Aren't I already trusting her, though? I just slept in the same room as her, and wasn't worried that she would try to kill me. I turned my back on her during a fight, and wasn't worried that she would kill me…isn't that trust? Or at least a form of it? If so, I must admit, it felt good. Nice. Trusting Weiss, if that's what it was, felt…right._

"Ruby, did you hear me?"

"I heard you, Jaune, but it's going to take time to find out if you're right or-" Any further thoughts were interrupted.

* * *

"So, Pyrrha, I'm sure everyone here was eager to unite with such a strong, well-known individual, such as yourself," Weiss said. "Though I don't know why you weren't named team leader."

"Well, I just decided to let the chips fall where they may. Everyone here at Beacon must have proved their worth already, so there wouldn't have been a bad outcome. It would be an honor to be partnered with any of my fellow students."

Weiss let the conversation lag momentarily as she looked down at the untouched tray of food before her before shooting a glance to either side, asking herself if the women she was now teammates with were exceptions to that rule or further proof of it. She had seen Ruby and Yang in action during their shared fight, though Blake's skill level remained an unknown quantity, and she had to admit that they seemed to be more than just capable. _Is that all that matters, though? Is fighting strength alone the measure of someone's worth?_ She cleared her head and returned her attention to the champion fighter seated across from her, noticing as she did so that the gladiator was touching her leader's arm tenderly. She couldn't imagine doing something like that to Ruby…she looked once more to the woman sitting next to her and blushed slightly as a new series of thoughts struck her. _Actually, I can imagine that, but I shouldn't._ She didn't hear what Pyrrha had said to the blond boy, but judging by the way the warm smile on her face and the tenderness of the touch it was apparently something nice.

"That's a very positive outlook on things, Pyrrha," Weiss said, bringing the girl's attention back to their own conversation. "I'm always trying to be prepared, trying to take control. I don't like to leave things to chance. My father always taught me that victory lies in preparation."

"But you're not the one in control now, right? When you sat down, you introduced yourself as being part of team Ruby, led by Ruby." She let out a giggle that she tried and failed to cover with her hand. "You must have been the last team back. Professor Ozpin wasn't very creative with your name." She saw the scowl on Weiss' face and apologized quickly. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to be hurtful. How are you responding to having someone else in charge?"

 _What's gotten into you, Weiss?_ she wondered, as she began to explain that she had agreed early on to work with Ruby to the best of her ability. _First you opened up to Ruby, your enemy, and now to this other stranger. When did you become an open book for others to read? When did you become so…trusting?_ It was a hard question for her to answer, so she put the thought aside for the moment. There would be time later for her to try to understand herself better. _Hopefully, at least. I seem to have a lot to think about now._ "And then we decided that whatever we do, we'd do it together," she finished telling Pyrrha. She frowned as she added a qualifier to her last statement. "It's still early in our relationship, though, so I'm sure we'll have a lot of wrinkles to iron out."

"Well, how do you view being a teammate?" the other girl asked. When she saw that Weiss didn't seem to understand her question she explained herself further. "I'm sorry. I wasn't very clear with what I meant. I remember it being explained to me once that being named the leader is a badge that must be worn constantly, at all times, and not just when you're going into battle together. It seems to me that being a teammate is the same thing. Do you see the need to be a good teammate constantly, or only when it suits you?"

Weiss stammered. "I guess I didn't look at it that way."

"This is a school, Weiss, and the purpose of a school is to teach. So, while you're here, hone your skills. Perfect your technique. Try to become, not the best leader, but the best person you can be."

"You make it sound so easy, though. Our situation is a little more…complicated than what yours is."

"Weiss, is that the truth, or is that just your opinion on it? We normally overthink things and all that does is make them more complicated than they need to be. I'd love to see you and Ruby fight together someday; I have a feeling you will work very well together. In the meantime, you just need to be supportive of her. Besides, do you really feel like you should have been named the leader?"

 _That's another thing to think about,_ she thought, adding that to her ever-growing list for self-reflection _._ If she had learned anything from their night together, it was that she needed Ruby's help in order to complete this assignment. Ruby had taken charge of their investigation, she had taken charge on the rooftop, she had taken charge when talking with both Professor Goodwitch and Professor Ozpin… _maybe she is the natural choice to be the leader. You yourself admitted on the airship that you needed her help. Do you really want that burden?_ "Thank you, Pyrrha. I'm going to-" Weiss' next words were cut off by her screaming in anger.

* * *

Blake nibbled absentmindedly on her food and focused on the book she held in front of her. She hadn't had the freedom to actually read in a very long time, and when she had been the first to wake up after their exhausting night she had dug through her bag to find the battered copy of one of her favorites, a story that she was now only a few pages away from finishing yet again. She had only had enough time to read a few pages before the other women woke up as well, but those few pages had been enough to ensnare her imagination once again, to arrest her attention and hold her captive to the narrative. She looked over the page at the quiet man sitting across from her and silently thanked him for understanding her need to be undisturbed. She was vaguely aware that the others were all engaged in conversation with varying levels of noise and enthusiasm, but Ren apparently didn't share that need, only occasionally speaking to fill in more details to the story Nora was regaling to Yang. _It's nice,_ she decided, returning to the words before her. _This is nice, being here. Having a roof over my head, a bed to sleep in, and food to eat. I could get used to this._ For now, though, the food was an afterthought. Her attention was fixed firmly on the book she held in her left hand.

 _He thanked me with a smiling nod, measured out a few minims of the red tincture and added one of the powders. The mixture, which was at first of a reddish hue, began, in proportion as the crystals melted, to brighten in colour, to effervesce audibly, and to throw off small fumes of vapour. Suddenly and at the same moment, the ebullition ceased and the compound changed to a dark purple, which faded again more slowly to a watery green. My visitor, who had watched these metamorphoses with a keen eye, smiled, set down the glass upon the table, and then turned and looked upon me with an air of scrutiny._

 _"And now," said he, "to settle what remains. Will you be wise? will you be guided? will you suffer me to take this glass in my hand and to go forth from your house without further parley? Or has the greed of curiosity too much command of you? Think before you answer, for it shall be done as you decide. As you decide, you shall be left as you were before, and neither richer nor wiser, unless the sense of service rendered to a man in mortal distress may be counted as a kind of riches of the soul. Or, if you shall so prefer to choose, a new province of knowledge and new avenues to fame and power shall be laid open to you, here, in this room, upon the instant; and your sight shall be blasted by a prodigy to stagger the unbelief of Satan."_

She stopped reading, some of the words having struck a chord with her. _Will you be wise? Or has the greed of curiosity too much command of you?_ _Those are both fair questions to ask myself right now,_ Blake thought. _Had it been wise to reveal myself back at the nightclub? Had it been wise to come here? It seems nice now, but looks can be deceiving, and situations can quickly change for the worse._ And as far as curiosity goes… _well, the saying is it killed the cat…_ That was something Blake desperately wanted to avoid. She sighed and continued reading.

 _"Sir," said I, affecting a coolness that I was far from truly possessing, "you speak enigmas, and you will perhaps not wonder that I hear you with no very strong impression of belief. But I have gone too far in the way of inexplicable services to pause before I see the end."_

 _Unable to pause before I see the end._ _That's me,_ Blake thought. _I've come too far in my pursuit of him to give up now. I will find him, and I will make him pay for all that he's done to hurt others._ She formed her hands into fists, cutting into her own skin slightly with her fingernails, not noticing the pain as she vowed yet again to stop him. _If I must work with a team to do that, then I guess that's the path that's laid out before me. I have gone too far to stop now. I can't, and I won't, rest until he has been found and brought to justice for causing so much pain to so many._

 _"It is well," replied my visitor. "Lanyon, you remember your vows: what follows is under the seal of our profession. And now, you who have so long been bound to the most narrow and material views, you who have denied the virtue of transcendental medicine, you who have derided your superiors-behold!"_

Once again Blake paused in her reading, staring at the words but thinking about her present situation. _Bound to the most narrow and material views. Perhaps this is something that I should share with Weiss and Ruby. It certainly fits right in with what Professor Ozpin was saying this morning._ She spared a glance to the left to where the supposed ideological and physical enemies were sitting side by side. _Though they don't seem to be so bound to their views right now. Or before they fell asleep._ Blake had heard their entire conversation earlier that morning, after they had thought she had fallen asleep, her sensitive hears picking up their faint whispers from across the room. Part of her was ashamed at listening to what was clearly meant to be a private conversation between the two, but her curiosity had quickly won out over her sense of propriety and she had listened carefully to every word that the two had spoken. _Can I help it if I have good hearing?_ she asked herself idly, before licking her finger to turn to the next page more easily.

 _He put the glass to his lips and drank at one gulp._

Suddenly, a scream from Weiss interrupted her reading. She dropped her book at the sudden noise and felt her ears twitch. She resisted the urge to reach up and cup them through her bow, sure that doing so would only draw more attention. _Oh no, I hope no one noticed._ She couldn't worry about that now, though, and turned to the white-haired girl to her left and tried not to let her mouth drop open in shock. Sitting there, her fists clenched, face covered with a pie, was Weiss.

And she did not look happy.

* * *

Yang was laughing loudly, loud enough that the entire dining hall was giving her dirty looks from the corners of their eyes. Across the table from her, Nora was being even louder than Yang, finishing a story that had to be more fiction than fact, judging at least from the number of times Ren had spoken up to correct her more outlandish claims.

"And that's why we're no longer welcome at A Simple Wok," Nora finished, slamming her glass down onto the table for emphasis and leaning forward to stare at Yang. "Can you imagine banning me?" She fell back into her chair and rested her hands on her belly, trying to contain her own laughter. "I mean, how was I supposed to know the noise I was making wasn't a sloth?"

Yang wiped the tears from her eyes and sighed, trying to catch her breath. The orange-haired girl across from her was a gifted storyteller. "That's terrible, Nora. I love that place. You ever want to get some good noodles, you let me know. I'll grab them for you."

The other girl blew her off with a combination of a dismissive noise and a hand wave. "Nah, that's fine. I send Ren out every once in a while since the shopkeeper didn't say anything about him not being welcome. I guess that's one time him being the strong silent type worked in his favor." She playfully bopped the man's nose with one of her fingers, while once more making the noise she had thought a sloth made.

"Nora," Ren said, clearly exasperated. "You have no one to blame but yourself. I told you that wasn't the noise a sloth made."

"No, you only said you didn't _think_ that was the noise a sloth made. There was some clear doubt in your voice."

Yang grabbed a bunch of grapes off the table and threw one into the air, catching it in her hand and testing its weight, smiling at the bickering couple across the table from her. It was clear Ren was the straight man of the double act; he was long-suffering, patient and grounded. Nothing at all like Nora at least; that much was clear. She was excitable, hyperactive, outgoing. He was quiet, while she was loud. They'd apparently had years together to perfect their act, though Yang wasn't sure if Ren was a willing participant in it or not. _Maybe Beacon isn't such a bad place,_ Yang thought. They had headed straight to the dining hall from their room after waking up, so team Juniper were the only four that they had met so far, but Yang had quickly taken a liking to them. Jaune seemed a little out of place, Pyrrha was overly nice, and Ren was strangely quiet, but overall they weren't a bad lot, and Nora at least was a kindred spirit to the fun-loving blonde girl. _Time to get her banned from the school lunchroom too,_ she thought evilly, hefting the one grape and throwing it at Nora, who wasn't paying attention. It hit her in the ear, dropping to the ground and rolling away.

The girl immediately stopped her conversation and turned to Yang, a smile on her face and fire in her eyes. She grabbed the nearest piece of food and threw it at Yang in return, a small strawberry. Yang caught it in her mouth easily and chuckled, throwing another grape, which Nora dodged, allowing it to go past her head.

"You two would be _Lie-_ ing if you said you didn't want this," Yang said, throwing another series of grapes, several of which hit Nora.

Ren looked from one girl to the other, quickly reading their facial expressions. "Ladies, let's think about this first," he said calmly, trying to prevent a food fight from breaking out between them.

"Oh, it's too late for that, Ren," Nora said excitedly. " _I'm_ the queen of the castle, and she needs to learn that." Nora scooped up some mashed potatoes and flung them at Yang, hitting her squarely in her forehead. "I'm queen of the castle, I'm queen of the castle," she sang happily.

Yang threw the last of her grapes, most of them sailing over Nora's head and further into the room. She was briefly aware of a shout from one of the other students, but she ignored it as she was forced to duck down to avoid Nora spraying her with soda. _This is going to be so much fun,_ she thought, a wide grin taking over her face. Her eyes went wide as she saw that behind Nora one of the other students, a giant of a man, was reaching for a pie. Yang shook her head no, not wanting things to escalate to that level. The man stood and threw, and Yang dodged out of reflex, listening for the sound of the pie sailing over her head. Instead, she heard a splat and a scream from the other end of the table. Standing, she saw her sister with her mouth open in shock, Weiss sitting with her face covered, and Blake with her book closed on the table in front of her. Across the table, team Juniper was turning in their seats, trying to see behind them to where the pie had been thrown from. The large man who had thrown it was trying to hide behind a much smaller rabbit Faunus, seemingly aware of the mistake he had just made.

"Nora, I think that man just challenged you for queen of the castle," Yang said, pointing her arm at the giant.

Nora grinned. "Let's break his legs," she said, grabbing a watermelon and turning around, drawing her arm back to throw.

* * *

Yang scowled as she paced back and forth, impatiently waiting for the airship to land. Blake sat on a nearby bench, her head still buried in her book. Weiss and Ruby were leaning against the lamppost, clutching their weapons in their hands. None of them were talking.

 _I can't believe they're still mad about that,_ Yang thought. The fight in the lunchroom hadn't lasted long before Professor Goodwitch showed up and put a stop to it, but in the short time it had Weiss had managed to become completely covered with different foods, Ruby was yelled at for not preventing her team from causing trouble, and Blake had had her reading interrupted. _Apparently those are all unforgiveable offenses,_ she thought, sighing deeply and continuing to pace back and forth. _Where the hell is that airship? It should be here by now._

After she had restored the dining hall to its pre-fight conditions, Professor Goodwitch had led the team to the docks to wait for the airship, passing out several pieces of paper once they had arrived.

"Read this," she had said. "Professor Ozpin contacted the Vale Police Department and requested any information they had on the White Fang. This is what they sent to us. Somewhere in these files is an address, a name, a picture, or something else that you can use to find Roman Torchwick. We've decided to leave your next step up to you. I hope, Miss Rose, that you prove yourself the leader of this team and return with positive and tangible results." She had then turned and walked away, leaving the four women alone.

Ruby hadn't wasted any time in coming up with their assignments. Yang smiled at the memory of her sister taking charge. _It was good for her,_ she decided, _it was good that she feels comfortable with us._ The tension between Ruby and Weiss hadn't passed Yang's notice, but she was hoping that they could overcome whatever it was that seemed to be bothering them. Yang had immediately volunteered to work with Blake, hoping that forcing the other two to spend time together would encourage them to talk through their problems. It was a change for Yang; normally, she was a believer that one's fists were the best tools for holding a conversation.

Yang stopped pacing and looked down at the paper she clutched in her right hand, smoothing out some of the wrinkles slightly and trying to memorize the man's face. Ruby told her and Blake that they would need to go to his store and wait to see if anyone else arrived to pick up anything that seemed suspicious. Yang glanced over at Blake. The Faunus ran a book store, so she should be happy to spend time in it at least.

There was a rush of air as the airship landed a few years away, and the women waited for the people already on it to exit before jumping on, ready to reenter the city.

* * *

 **A/N:** Yes, I shamelessly admit to copying directly from the great Robert Louis Stevenson for the book Blake was reading (same book, but previous page to what was seen in Volume 1 Episode 3). If you haven't read it yet, take a break from the amateur fan fiction and head over to your preferred search engine and search for "Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" It's public domain, so it shouldn't be too hard to find a .pdf, .epub, .mobi or to simply find it put up on a webpage somewhere. It's comparatively short and has good themes relating to the duality of man and class divisions. I'd love to recommend a film adaption, but they all seem to fall short for one reason or another, so I can't. Oh well.


	8. Chapter 8: The hands of a Thief

**Chapter Eight: The hands of a Thief**

Asterion walked through the city of Vale. _This is my city,_ he thought. He adjusted his stride to reflect that attitude, affecting a haughty attitude. He didn't care about the people he passed who tried to avoid him by crossing the street or hugging the sides of the buildings. He was only slightly more interested in the few that didn't part for him, roughly pushing them out of his way. _This is my city, but these aren't my people._ He had had enough of their stares, their whispers, their _disdain_. When he was just a child, his parents had tried to make him hide what he was. As a child, he had agreed with them. As a teenager, he had agreed with them. He had tried but he could not hide his true nature, he couldn't deny his true self. _They want to look down on my because I'm a Faunus? Let them. I'll be the one having the last laugh. If only they knew the destruction that is soon to befall them._

That destruction was something that he had looked forward too for a long time now. It had spent years in the initial planning stages, and even longer in preparation. And now, on what was to be the dawn of the new age, the leadership of the White Fang had decided to whore themselves out to a human, to do his bidding. _Why?_ he asked himself. They took all the risks, and the human got all the rewards. _Why are we doing this, and for how much longer?_ He knew that their original plan had depended on a very tight and highly controlled timetable, one that had been tied to the beginning of the biannual Vytal Festival, an event now only a few months away. If they missed their opening because they were rented out like tuxedoes for a wedding, it would be another eight years before it returned to Vale. _Eight long, long years. Who knows what could happen in that length of time?_ Asterion resisted the urge to howl at the sky in frustration. _Why would they do this now? No, why would they do this ever?_ It just didn't make any sense, and every time he had asked his questions the supreme leadership summarily dismissed them; Taurus did everything short of physically throwing him out of his presence to make it clear that the matter was _not_ open to discussion, now or in the future. It was very clear that he was to fall in line and obey orders. Those were the exact words the terror leader had used the last time Asterion had pushed him for answers. The dog Faunus laughed sardonically. _The nerve of him, to lecture me on the need to obey orders. Didn't he know dogs are always loyal to their masters?_ Bulls are the ones who turn around and gore the one goading them.

Asterion reached his destination and milled about uncertainly, unsure of what to do next. His contact should have been here by now. _It's not like Brawn to be late for a meeting, especially when it's as important as this is._ He looked around, paying careful attention to the throng of people that milled around the busy city square. This marketplace had been chosen both because- and in spite of- the fact that it was one of the busiest in the city of Vale. The idea had been Asterion's own, though now he was beginning to have regrets regarding the wisdom of the choice. In theory, the mass of civilians would make the police less likely to interfere, would allow for Brawn and himself more faces to hide among, and would provide an appropriate level of background noise to prevent any unwelcome ears from listening in. In practice, however, the crowd offered as many advantages to any that might be tailing them as it did to those seeking to use it to hide.

There was a slight and momentary breeze, and Asterion lifted his head to sniff at the air, trying to discern the distinctive scent of his fellow revolutionary. There wasn't any trace of it, which caused Asterion to go even further into a state of alert. _Could Brawn have been taken?_ He had heard about a police raid at Junior's nightclub in the early hours of the morning, well before dawn, and he knew that Brawn liked to try his luck with the ladies that frequented the place. _I can't wait forever_ , he thought _._ He looked up at the clock on the side of one of the office buildings adjacent to the square, and then compared it to both the watch he always wore on his wrist and his scroll, synchronized with the CCT in the center of the city. All four were in agreement regarding the time: Brawn was now officially ten minutes late. _Make that eleven,_ Asterion thought dryly as the last number of the display blinked and changed. Asterion had known Brawn for years, and he had never been late for anything before. _He wouldn't start now, not if he had a choice in the matter._ Something was wrong, and Asterion realized he needed to leave immediately.

Asterion took one last look around the square before making his way down the street, passing multiple vendors without giving them a second look. He had been here before and knew their wares were nothing that would pique his interest. He pushed his way through the crowd and flipped a coin into a fountain as he passed, smiling as he heard the distinctive _"ker-plunk"_ of the coin sinking into the water. He made the same wish he always had, knowing that one day it would eventually come true. _One day, the White Fang_ will _ensure freedom for all Faunus, everywhere. That cannot be doubted._

 _If all that we've gained through the years isn't lost in service to a human first._

"You know, you're way too predictable," a voice said from beside him. "And that's a terrible waste of good lien. I have half a mind to jump in the fountain myself and fetch it back." Asterion jumped at the sound and made to draw his weapon, but the soft furred hand of his tardy companion coming to a rest upon his own halted the movement. "Relax, friend Asterion. That won't be necessary. I'm not here to hurt you. You might have needed your weapon back in the main square, but I don't think those police were looking for you specifically. I think it was simply more of a show of force, an attempt to calm the troubled populace, than any action against us. There was a fight in one of the slums earlier today, and that seems to have left them on edge." When Asterion didn't move his hand from the grip of his sword, the voice continued. "Relax, Asterion. They didn't follow you. We're clear to talk here. If you don't believe me, take a look around. I'm willing to wait."

Asterion forced himself to release his death grip on the hilt of his sword, and he drew his hand away from the weapon strapped to his side. He looked behind himself over his shoulder and scanned the merchants and shoppers in the open-air marketplace. Satisfied that his companion wasn't lying about the dearth of police, but unsure of how he had failed to notice any during his checks beforehand, he nodded and spoke. "Okay, then, let's talk. I assume you have what you promised me?"

* * *

Ruby sat on the bench, trying her absolute best to remain inconspicuous. She had noticed it becoming increasingly harder for her to become one with the crowd since she had agreed to her new, albeit temporary, assignment. Even now she could feel the stares directed at her, or, rather, directed at her general direction. _No one ever gave me a second look before. This is all_ her _fault. I can hide myself under my hood, using my clothing to conceal my features, my hair, and my eyes…she can't_. Ruby didn't move her head, but she let her eyes wander to the girl sitting at the other end of the short bench, only a foot or so separating them, looking at her out of her periphery. The girl that was the reason for many of the stares and second glances Ruby had been noticing. _I don't know that I can blame them for staring,_ she thought. _Weiss is striking._ Ruby recognized that it wasn't normal for her to pay attention to someone's physical appearance, beyond an initial assessment to measure their potential threat level, but even she had to admit the white-haired girl beside her was, physically, extremely attractive. The light blue eyes, the pale complexion, the white hair, the trim build. The scar over her left eye. _The scar might be the most appealing thing about her,_ she thought. Ruby knew that for many people, the scar would be a blemish on an otherwise flawless face, a blight to be covered up, hidden, camouflaged. For many, the scar would be a signal of her weakness, or of imperfection. Ruby was not one of many. _That scar is something to be cherished, if not flaunted. Every day, it's a reminder that she has strength. It is a reminder that she fought a worthy opponent, and won, emerging from the battle a more capable fighter. The universe had challenged her, and lost._ At least, that was what Ruby liked to think had happened. She sighed imperceptibly, admitting to herself that there were plenty of other potential origin stories for the wound. _Maybe she walked into an open cabinet, or she just suffered from a really aggravating itch one day._ She let out an audible laugh at the thought of that one, recognizing the ridiculousness and unlikelihood of it.

"What's so funny?" asked the girl Ruby was studying. Her voice interrupted the assassin's personal thoughts, almost making Ruby jump at the sudden interruption. _Relax, girl. You're better than this. Remember your training,_ she tried to encourage herself. _You're supposed to be the professional. How can you let someone asking you a question scare you?_

"Nothing," she said aloud. _No way am I going to admit to her I was laughing at her. We have enough problems working together as it is._ Ruby was under no false assumptions regarding their relationship. They had pledged to pretend to be cordial, and they temporarily shared a common goal in eliminating a Templar and a known criminal, but they were not friends. _Friends can share a laugh, or relax in each other's company. Friends sit around and paint their nails, and go shopping, and talk about cute boys…_ she again looked at her companion's face. _Or cute girls..._ She shook her head, hoping that Weiss wouldn't notice the movement. _But we're not anywhere near that point, and probably never will be._ For some reason, that thought made Ruby's heart sink a little. _It's not like I wanted to be her friend or anything. She's my enemy._ Ruby knew even as she thought that that she was deceiving herself, if not outright telling lies. _Honestly, I'm glad that Yang volunteered to work with Blake, and that they went off on their own. Maybe it'll give Weiss and I a chance to talk things over._ A large part of Ruby felt bad about not telling Weiss the full truth about what had happened to her father; a much smaller part tried to rationalize it by reminding her she _had_ answered the questions truthfully. _Is it my fault that she asked the wrong questions? How can I be blamed for giving the wrong answers?_

"You're lying to me," Weiss said, turning away from Ruby and lifting her nose. "I don't need to have known you long to know that. I clearly heard you laughing a minute ago, and I want to know why."

"Let's just focus on our mission, okay? I promise you it wasn't important." Ruby hoped that Weiss would let the issue slide, and she allowed herself to take her own advice to find their target. She was vaguely aware of Weiss giving a reply, likely something snappy, but Ruby deliberately ignored her. _Who am I kidding? Weiss and I are just too different, too far apart on everything to ever talk openly about…anything._ "Do you see anyone that matches the description in the files Professor Goodwitch gave us?" she asked. _This is a safe topic for us. Just focus on the mission._

"There are many Faunus here," Weiss said, pretending that answered the question Ruby had asked. _Now I'm the one asking the wrong questions,_ Ruby realized drolly.

"Yes, that's true, but do you see anyone that matches the description Professor Goodwitch gave us? We're looking for a dog Faunus. I see monkey, cat, bull, and deer, but no dog. Do you see anything?" Ruby asked again. _Patience. Weiss is just testing you._

"No," Weiss said, crossing her arms over her chest. "How can we be sure that he'll be here? This seems like a big leap in logic. All we know about him is that he's been a long-time member of the White Fang, so the police assume that he's risen through their ranks and is now highly placed. How can we be sure that he'll be right here, right now, with something that will help us?"

"Weiss, it's like fishing. You go to the pond, which is where we are now, and you dangle the bait, which I admit we don't really have, and then you just wait for a pull on the line. Do you see all the people here? This is one of the busiest marketplaces in Vale, giving him plenty of people to hide among. Big pond means big fish. Now I'm hoping- and I'll stress _hoping-_ that the increased activity of the White Fang means their big fish need to swim around more, not less. They can't afford for others to think they're scared and in hiding. We just need to be patient. If we don't get anything, Blake and Yang should still be able to provide something that'll help us. They went to a known White Fang hotbed, where there's almost guaranteed to be something going on."

It didn't seem that Weiss was convinced of Ruby's arguments, but she stopped complaining and resumed scanning the crowd for any sign of their target. They were silent for a few minutes, simply sitting on the bench in the late day sun, breathing in the many rich smells from the food stalls, hearing the chatter of merchants calling out their wares and the sound of different coins exchanging hands. _Mr. Venaticus, where are you?_ Ruby asked herself. She wouldn't admit it to Weiss, but she was beginning to share her doubts as to their chances of success. _It had made sense to me back at Beacon, when Professor Goodwitch handed me the files. There hadn't been much in them, since he seems to have mostly evaded detection by the police. A few notes from interrogations with lower-ranking members, a few grainy photographs, and a few assumptions thrown in for good measure. Asterion Venaticus, longtime member of the White Fang, known to operate along the riverbank in the agricultural district._ That was the basic gist of what the files had contained _._ Back at Beacon, it hadn't seemed like too much of a leap to assume he would frequent the farmer's markets, as they were located squarely in the agricultural district that he apparently called home…but still he hadn't shown himself, and Ruby was wondering if they should cut their losses and move on to somewhere else. _Every fisher needs to know when to pull in the lure and cast somewhere else._

"Ruby, have you noticed all the police here all of a sudden?" Weiss asked from beside her on the bench. Ruby could feel the tenseness in her voice.

"Yes, I just noticed that myself. Originally, there were just those two over there, which is normal procedure for crowded public areas such as this one, so I hadn't thought much of it. But then those three joined them, and then those two, and now I see another one is hanging back, but still in the area." She pointed at the last one, dropping her arm quickly. It wouldn't do for the police to notice her action and wonder why she was so interested.

"Do you think they're here for us?"

 _That's a good question,_ she thought _._ She didn't think Junior or either of his two female bodyguards would have been willing or even able to give much of a description to the police department, so it seemed unlikely that they would be there trying to arrest either herself or Weiss. Even if the nightclub owner had folded under pressure, it didn't seem possible the police would have known where to look for them. Certainly, it seemed that if they were there with the intent to arrest Weiss and herself, they would have attempted to hide their presence better until they were ready to spring their trap and move in for the arrest. Still, it wouldn't hurt to be cautious, and there was always the chance that she was wrong. "I don't think so, but I think we should try to leave now instead of staying to find out whether we're wrong or not. In any case, a display of force like this is probably going to scare off our target, so there isn't any reason to stay anyway." Ruby stood and made sure her hood was still in place, just in case the police had been given a description of her. The hood would hide her easily distinguished hair and eyes. She again wished Weiss had something that she could use to cover herself up with as well.

Weiss also stood and made her way towards the same side street they had walked in from. Ruby grabbed her arm at the elbow, pulling her back. "Not that way," she whispered intently. "On the off chance they are here for us, they might have been watching us since we entered. We need to go out another way." She looked around and saw another exit, away from the police but still crowded with people. "This way. Follow me." She led Weiss by the arm in the chosen direction for several steps before coming to an abrupt halt.

"Oh, what is it this time?" demanded Weiss.

"Be quiet," Ruby said. "Look over there." She pointed with her left arm in the direction they were walking, and Weiss squinted to try and improve her vision.

"What is it?" she asked again, her voice slightly calmer. "I don't see any-Oh. How about that."

"Quiet," repeated Ruby. "The police must have spooked him as well as us. He might even have been the one they were here for. We'll have to move fast to grab him before someone else does." She was quiet for a minute, clearly thinking through their options. She spoke up again. "Or," she said, holding up her left index finger, "instead, we could try something different…" she let her words trail off, giving Weiss an opportunity to speak up.

The Templar didn't take her eyes off the dog Faunus as she allowed herself to play Ruby's game. "Or what?" she asked.

"Well, if you're willing to take a risk, we don't attack him. We just follow him, see where he leads us and if he meets with anyone. If he does, then maybe we can just swoop in then and take whatever he gets off him. Either way is taking a risk, I admit, but this way has more upside. If he has something now, and gives it to someone else, we take that one. If he doesn't have anything, and is given it, then we take him. If they just talk, we take him afterward. If he doesn't meet with anyone at all, we take him. We win no matter what."

Weiss frowned, apparently unhappy with both choices but willing to play them out in her head. "Very well," she said eventually. "For now, we follow him, discretely, and see if he meets with anyone. _If_ he does, and _if_ we see anything pass hands, we try to steal it without him noticing. If that doesn't happen, we just proceed with our first plan: attack him, and force him to speak to us."

"Agreed. Now c'mon. We need to hurry. This way." Ruby pulled on Weiss' arm, leading her towards her sighted goal.

* * *

"Of course I have your stuff, Asterion. Don't you have any faith in me? Here it is. Look it over for yourself." The bear Faunus dug into one of his pockets and pulled out an older model scroll, activating the screen and bringing up the image gallery. "I followed this Torchwick guy for a full week. Everywhere he went, I went. I was more loyal than that man's shadow."

Asterion took the scroll and began to thumb through the pictures it displayed, pausing on several of them to study them better. _Brawn really outdid himself this time,_ he thought, silently complimenting the spook. _Somewhere in here are the answers that I've been looking for, the reasons why the high command is willing to betray the cause._ He came to the end of the first album and pocketed the scroll, vowing to study its contents in greater detail at the first opportunity. For now, he needed to leave Brawn behind and make his way back to one of the White Fang safe houses. _I'll have to choose which one carefully, though. I can't afford to be caught studying our supposed ally. If Taurus caught me, he'd treat me worse than he did his former partner._ Asterion shuddered at the thought of evoking the bull's wrath. _For now, it's a risk I'm willing to take, but still, I don't relish the outcome of him uncovering my investigation before I've had a chance to learn the truth behind this all._ Turning to his companion, he handed over a small card, an address handwritten on the front. "Take this, Brawn. Your payment will be there. And remember, this one was off-books, so make no mention of it to anyone, am I understood?"

"Yeah," the bear growled, taking the card. "Don't worry, Asterion, I'll keep your secret, if for no other reason than I have a sickening feeling that I'm covering my own ass by doing so." He slipped the card into the pocket that had previously contained the scroll, and patted his chest to make sure it had fallen in place properly. "Don't hesitate to call me next time you need someone to do your dirty work for you. You know how to reach me." He shuffled off, pushing his way through the crowd, leaving Asterion alone among the many more law-abiding citizens of Vale.

 _I need to get away from here, before those police notice me._ Asterion was equal parts confused and upset that he hadn't noticed the police presence while he was waiting for Brawn at their originally agreed upon spot. _I need to be more careful, more cautious from here on out. I cannot afford to picked up in a sweep._ He knew that he was the only one among the White Fang's higher levels of leadership that was willing to resist the human's interference, the only one that wanted to remain focused on the operation that was the culmination of all their years of shedding blood, sweat, and tears for the cause. He made his way towards a safe house that he knew was likely to be vacant. Trying to put on a more relaxed front, he began to whistle smoothly. He walked with slightly more care than he had when entering the marketplace; where before he had been rude and unwilling to move aside for others, he was now hanging to the side to let others pass by without needing to walk in the street.

Unconsciously, he slipped his hand into his pocket and grabbed at the phone that was there. _I hope something in here pans out. If not…well, hopefully this was worth the expense._ He didn't want to consider the possibility of failure. The photos he had looked through seemed to be a comprehensive account of what Torchwick had been up to for the previous week. _I'll find what you're holding over the White Fang's head, Roman Torchwick…and when I do, I'll take it from you, leaving you powerless and alone. You have my word on that._ He removed his hand from his pocket and put it to his lips, vowing to himself that he would do exactly as he thought.

* * *

"You're right, Weiss, it is easier to access a rooftop from the inside a building than the outside. There are far fewer strange looks from normal people this way too. Also, it's less exhausting," Ruby said as she pushed the rooftop access door open and walked out onto the flat roof, Weiss directly behind her.

"Of course I'm right! You don't have to sound so surprised about it." Weiss hurried to the edge, afraid that their target might have disappeared from sight during their brief time inside the apartment building. She let out a quiet sigh of relief when she was able to quickly pick him out of the crowd. _This is a very different perspective,_ she thought. _I understand now why snipers prefer higher elevation. There is so much on the ground to block your view._ She was ashamed that she hadn't ever realized the simple truth behind the common practice until now. _Book knowledge verse field experience, I suppose._

"He's meeting with another Faunus," Ruby said from beside her. "A bear Faunus, by the looks of it. I don't remember any mention in the police files of any particular associations besides his involvement with the White Fang, so I don't have a clue who his friend is."

"It might not matter. We came here for Venaticus, not whoever he might be meeting with. It's a shame we aren't close enough to hear their conversation…are you sure that this was the better option, Ruby?" _We might be able to_ see _more from here, but we can't hear anything_

"Yep," the brunette said, not taking her eyes off their target. "I'm the leader, right? I'm the one with experience here. Besides, you agreed to it."

"Hmpf," she said, continuing to watch the Faunus intently. She saw the new one reach into his pocket and withdraw something small, a book or a scroll, maybe, and hand it to Venaticus. "Did you see that?" she asked Ruby, wanting to confirm what she had just witnessed.

"Yep," Ruby said again. "It seems like I was right. Remember that the next time you feel like doubting me."

 _You don't have to sound so smug about it, Ruby,_ Weiss thought. "Hmpf," was her reply. _She got lucky, that's all. She got lucky that we found him here, and lucky that the police didn't see us, and now she's lucky that her guess about him being handed something by an unknown compatriot was right._ Weiss didn't trust in _luck_. She trusted in _skill._ Skills could be practiced, honed, perfected. Skills were something that could be counted on. _Luck…well, luck comes and goes on its own accord. There isn't any rhyme or reason to it._ She thought back to what Pyrrha had told her only a few hours ago. ' _Hone your skills and perfect your technique,' she had said._ There was a reason that girl was a world-renowned warrior despite her youth. _She understands what is necessary to succeed._ At least, she understood what Weiss had always been taught. _But so much of what Father has told me has been proved wrong already. Ruby is walking, talking proof of that. She must have some aspect of a technique, and was clearly granted a double portion of skill, but she seems to survive on her wit and instinct, not endless practice sessions in controlled environments._ "What do we do now, then?" she asked, desperate to quiet her inner monologue. She had spent far too much time over the last twenty-four hours questioning her most closely-held beliefs, and it was beginning to upset her.

Ruby began to outline her new plan. "Now, you stay on up high, on the rooftops, and follow him. I'm going to return to ground level and try to get close enough to him to steal whatever he was given right out of his pocket. If I lose him, I'll look up to you, and you point me in the right direction. Oh, but make sure that _he_ doesn't see you. He is probably beginning to act a little paranoid right now." Weiss followed Ruby's pointed finger and had to agree that Venaticus did seem extremely on edge. _I can't say I blame him. Would I be any better if I was in that situation?_

 _No._ She could admit to herself her own shortcomings. _I would probably be much worse._

* * *

Asterion was feeling increasingly worried about the situation he found himself in. He kept looking over his shoulder, certain that someone or something was following him. Every time he stopped, though, he didn't see anything suspicious. How could he, when he didn't even know who they might represent? _It could be the police, or the White Fang, or even a common street thug looking to rob me._ He mulled the options over in his mind ashe stopped and looked into a store window, only pretending to examine the display while trying to use the reflection of the street the glass provided to see behind him surreptitiously. _Have I seen that man before? Or what about that one? That girl looks familiar, maybe she's the one following me. That deer Faunus, though, he looks like he might be allied with the White Fang. Dammit! There's no way to know for sure!_ He decided to make for the safe house as quickly as he could, and hope that anyone tailing him might fall behind if he ran at his full speed. _You should be better than this,_ he reprimanded himself. _You've been doing this for decades; you have experience in staying low. Why are you letting this get to you?_

He knew why. For all his experience, he had never truly been _alone_. At least, never in the way he was now. He had always been able to count on others for support; as a child, he could look to his parents and as an adult, he could look to his brothers in the White Fang. _Now, I don't know if I can trust them like I used to. I don't know what they're doing anymore, and I know enough about how they operate to know they'll take decisive action against any that they deem to be acting in opposition to their goals. Hell, I've taken part in operations directed against those in opposition to our goals. Now I might be the one being hunted, instead of the hunter._

He picked up his pace again, his rapid footsteps making a steady noise against the pavement. _Only one more block, and I can relax in safety. As soon as I enter the safe house, I can put it into lockdown, and then I'm alone for as long as it takes to find out the truth._ He wasn't entirely sure what he would do once he knew. _It all depends on what I find. If it's something damning, I'll reach out to a few of the White Fang that I know I can trust, and we'll proceed as necessary._ If it turned out to be nothing serious, and there were solid reasons for the seeming betrayal, he could always pretend that he had never had any doubts regarding the leadership, and that he had disappeared for a few days out of fear the city police anti-terrorism squad was closing in on him.

Even as concerned as he was with the threat of danger, his speed had made him reckless, and he crashed into a young girl as he turned a corner. He stayed on his feet, but she wasn't as lucky and was sent flying sideways into a trash can, falling to the ground even as the trash spilled everywhere on the street. She immediately clutched at her leg, crying out in pain and looking at him with large silver eyes, a solitary tear beginning to make its way down her cheek. "Watch where you're going, little girl," Asterion snapped at her, not stopping to see if she was seriously injured. _Let the humans worry about their own,_ he thought. _They wouldn't think twice to help a Faunus that fell to the ground, so why should I be any different? They've made their bed, it's time they sleep in it._

He turned away from the girl and continued running, ignoring the angry calls of the passerby that had seen what had happened. _I'm almost there,_ he thought. He was breathing heavily now, not having run so far or so fast for a long time. He saw the safe house in front of him, an unassuming one-story dwelling tucked away neatly between a bakery and an inter-kingdom travel agency, _Vale Vacations Select_. He reached the front door and typed the entrance code into the security panel. Entering the house, he slapped the control to lock the front door and collapsed against it, holding his hand to his chest to calm his breathing. After a few seconds, he reached into his pocket and grabbed for the precious scroll it contained. He frowned, and dug deeper into his pocket. _No, it can't be,_ he thought _._ Terrified, he ripped his pants off and turned the pocket inside out.

"Dammit!" he shouted, smashing his fists against the door behind him. He threw the pants angrily to the ground.

The scroll was gone.

* * *

"Did you get it?" Weiss asked. She had jumped down from the roof of a building to an awning spread over the street, and from that to ground level. Several of the citizens were muttering under their breath about her potential lack of mental health, but they were glad she was assisting the injured girl since that meant they didn't have to.

"Of course," Ruby said, holding the scroll up between her index and middle fingers. "I said I would, and I did. Stop doubting my abilities."

"Do you think he'll know it was you?" Weiss offered her hand to Ruby and pulled the brunette to her feet, absent-mindedly brushing some dust off from her cloak.

"He might, but what does he know? All he saw was a little girl that got hurt when he ran into her. He won't know how to find me. And there were a hundred other people that passed close to him as he ran here. He might think that it was any of them. If we don't dally around here until he comes back, we should be all set." She put the scroll into a pocket on her skirt and made sure the pocket was zipped shut. _It's hard to steal from a thief,_ she thought, _but it doesn't make any sense to make it any easier for anyone foolish enough to try than it needs to be._ "Are you coming, Weiss, or do you need a personal invitation?" she asked as she began to walk off into the city, once again becoming a hidden blade in the crowd.

"I'm coming," the Templar said, throwing one final glance over her shoulder in the direction that Venaticus had disappeared in, afraid that he would come chasing after them. "Let's go," she said sharply. "I don't like standing around here like this." She resisted a shudder and hurried to catch up with Ruby.

Together, the two young women ran through the city, making their way back towards the transit station that would take them back to Beacon.

"Do you think Blake and Yang had any success in their assignment?" Weiss asked as they ran.

"Well, if I know Yang they'll come back with a crazy story if nothing else," Ruby said, ducking under a line of clothes hung across the street to dry. "Don't worry, Weiss. I looked through the scroll while you were getting down from the rooftops. Even if they don't come back with anything, we should have a good start on planning our strike. There are a few thousand pictures of Roman Torchwick on here. Somewhere among them is what we need."


	9. Chapter 9: Business and Pleasure

**Chapter Nine: Business and Pleasure**

"I'm still upset that you wouldn't agree to ride Bumblebee with me," Yang said as she literally dragged her feet across the pavement, always remaining at least five feet behind Blake no matter how many times she stopped to wait for Yang to catch up. She had been complaining ever since they had landed at the Vale Transit Station, when she had first suggested to her extant partner that instead of walking through the vast city, they ride through it in style. And at an unsafe speed. An _exceptionally_ unsafe speed, if Blake had to hazard a guess. Yang did not strike the kunoichi as someone who was prone to taking things slow.

"And I still don't want to be caught on that deathtrap," Blake said in response, her voice not betraying her increasing lack of patience. _She's like a little child,_ she thought. _She's either trying to get me to notice her or her jokes, or she's complaining about something trivial. Walking has only ever benefitted people; it's never hurt them._ "Motorcycles result in thousands of deaths each year across the four kingdoms. I'm not going to be one of them." _Also, who names their motorcycle?_ Blake reached over her shoulder and lightly brushed the hilt of Gambol Shroud. _I mean, naming your weapon is normal, but a bike? That's too small a thing. Naming methods of transportation begins and ends with ships, not motorcycles…_

"How many deaths are caused by boredom each year from having to walk five miles? Huh? You ever think about that, Blake? Besides, I know what I'm doing. I haven't had an accident yet." Yang seemed proud of that fact, if her wide grin and the way she fluffed up her shirt were any indication.

"Yet being the key word there, Yang," Blake said. She decided to change the subject. "We're almost there. I recognize that park." She pointed towards the park in question, a small plot of natural green hidden among the concrete jungle that was the capital and namesake of the kingdom of Vale. _My parents used to take me here as a child, before…before it all happened._ She balled her hands into fists as the unpleasant memories began to fill her head. _No, I won't give in,_ she thought. _I don't want to think about that right now._

"Still, we could've been there ages ago, instead of only 'almost there' now," Yang said, before lapsing into silence for a few minutes. It was the first such instance since they had split with Ruby and Weiss, and Blake was momentarily hopeful that the silence would be an enduring one. _It's not that I dislike her company in particular,_ Blake thought. _I just don't like anyone's company. I can only count on myself._

Those hopes for silence were dashed, however, when Yang spoke up. "Who's the Faunus?" she asked, pointing to the centerpiece of the small park. "I mean, whoever he was, he must've been someone of great _stature._ Uh huh, get it?" She elbowed Blake in the side gently, trying to get her taciturn companion to smile.

"Your sister was right back on that rooftop when we first met. You're execrable." _I feel like the judge from Atlas here. I'm not even giving her points for trying. She's putting more effort into making this work than I am_.

 _Is that such a bad thing, though?_

"Oh, you know you love it," the blonde bruiser said with a laugh, her feelings and pride uninjured. "Well, maybe you don't _yet,_ but you will. I'm like fine wine: I get better with age. Before the day is done, you'll be making them as well."

"Do you know how many die each year from exposure to bad puns?" Blake asked rhetorically, before sighing and answering Yang's original question. "That's a statue of Fawn, the leader of the Faunus garrison at the Battle of Fort Castle. He was the one who won the Faunus the war, guaranteeing them the right to live in whatever kingdom they want, as free citizens. Of course, it's been years since then, and the Faunus still have problems with society."

Yang was nodding as the memory of old school lessons came back to her slowly. "Oh right, I've heard of that battle. It's a shame that there are so many humans out there who don't look at the Faunus as equals. Then, and now. We're all the same." She stopped talking as a Faunus walked by, and she caught herself staring at the antlers. "Mostly the same," she added.

Blake was quiet, not offering an immediate response. _Mostly._ That was a thought that she had found herself conflicted over for years now. _We're so similar in so many ways, but are we truly the same? We don't look quite the same, we don't act quite the same. As much as we try…as much as_ I try… _at the end of the day we're not, well, human. Even among ourselves, we're not equal. Some can hide what they are, some can't. Maybe we are something else._ She tightened her jaw. _But that doesn't mean that we should be looked down on as animals, or treated as slaves._

"Still," Yang continued, ignorant of the identity crisis Blake was dealing with, "as cool and useful as the night vision may be, I wouldn't want to be one of them. It must be hard being a Faunus, always being looked down at or treated poorly. There was this real nice girl back at Signal who was a year or two older than me, and she was a Faunus, a rabbit, and there were always bullies around who would pull on her ears for a laugh." She spat at the ground. "Despicable. I wanted so badly to beat them up over it, to do something, anything, to stop it, to help her…"

 _You don't know the half of it, Yang,_ Blake thought. "But you didn't," Blake said, sensing the regret in her voice.

"Yeah. But I didn't."

"Let's just keep moving," Blake said. "We're almost to the store."

* * *

 _It's about time,_ Yang thought, glad that they had finally- finally- reached their destination. _What's so frightening about a motorcycle anyway? I've been on one for years and never even had a scare, let alone an actual accident._ In this case, Blake's loss was also her own. _My feet are killing me._

They stood outside their destination, looking at the new and used bookstore, the gold lettering on the windows standing out among the other comparatively bland storefronts. "So, I guess we just go in?" Yang asked. Blake shrugged, so Yang walked up to the door and opened it, a soft chime announcing their presence.

"Tuckson's Book Trade, home to every book under the sun," the bored clerk said in greeting from behind the counter as Blake and Yang entered the bookstore, Yang whistling appreciatively at the selection. The bells tied to the door chimed for the second time as the door swung shut behind the ladies.

"So, uh, what do we do now?" Yang whispered to Blake as they stood at the entrance, aware of the many eyes the other shoppers were fixing on them. _Yeah, we didn't think this through very well._ "We don't exactly fit in…" _Maybe there are times being a Faunus would be an advantage,_ Yang thought. _It'd certainly help me feel less out of place here._

From what Yang could see, not _every_ other patron was a Faunus, just nearly every other one. It made sense, in a way. Faunus were probably unhappy when they were isolated, as anyone would be, so it made sense they would congregate in the same communities. Businesses would of course sprout up to service their needs, and people would shop at whatever store was the closest to their own home. _So, really, it's strange that there are humans here at all._

Blake appeared to be unnerved by the stares directed at her, but she didn't let them stop her from walking forward as confidently as she could manage before turning down an aisle, seemingly at random. Yang quickly followed, not wanting to be left alone. She joined Blake in perusing the books, feeling relieved as the others all directed their attention back to themselves. Everyone, that is, except the clerk, who finally began to pay attention to them.

"Can I help you find anything, ladies?" he asked, his voice raspy. He coughed and took a drink of water from a glass placed near the register on the check-out counter, then cleared his throat. "Excuse me, that's better," he said, his voice now clear. "I always get a cold this time of year. Can I help you find anything?"

"No, thank you," Blake said, returning the book she had in her hand to its place on the shelf. Yang looked at the title. _Animal Farm, huh? That seems to be a weird choice for a Faunus bookshop. You'd think that'd dredge up some hard feelings._ She was tempted to take it out and read the back, but Blake had moved on, so she followed her instead. "We're just browsing at the moment, thank you," Blake finished saying to the clerk.

"Well, if you need any recommendations or help finding anything, just ask. If you don't see it, we'll be glad to order it for you. But there isn't much that we don't have." That was apparently a point of pride for the bookstore, having the largest selection in Vale. _That could explain the humans here, even if they don't live in this district. If they're guaranteed to get the selection that nowhere else offers, it'd make it worth the trip._

Yang didn't share their interest in books, or in reading. She had done well in school, to a point at least. She had been serious about the topics that interested her, or had seemed to be usable in the real world. Mechanical engineering, to build and maintain her gauntlets and Bumblebee; physical education to keep her body in prime fighting shape; basic anatomy and medical first aid in the case of an accident. Reading and comprehension, art history- any history, really- and ethics were of far less concern when she had wanted to become a huntress. _Why read about other people going off on grand adventures when you can go on one of your own,_ she wondered. She tapped Blake on the shoulder, and the dark-haired girl turned around to look at her.

"Yes?" she asked, annoyed that she had been interrupted from…whatever it was she was doing. _Browsing an endless supply of books, I guess,_ Yang decided. _Sorry, sister, but that's not what we're here for._

"I still don't know what we're doing here. Normally I just go in swinging," she said, demonstrating by throwing a few quick jabs in front of her, "so this just walking around aimlessly looking at paper isn't really my wheelhouse. You _read_ me? So, uh, like I said, what's the play?" She was happy to see the faint tinge of a smile play across Blake's face. _You're worried about dying from exposure to bad puns? Lady, I don't play a weak hand. You'll love them before too long, mark my words,_ she thought.

"We're already playing," Blake said quietly. "Didn't you notice all the Faunus hanging out here? This is a meeting ground for the White Fang. All we need to do is browse long enough for them to forget about us and go back to whatever conversation they were having before we came in. We listen, we learn, we leave. That's all there is to it." She raised her hand and put the book she grasped back on the shelf, taking off the next one in line and looking at it thoughtfully.

Yang looked around, glaring at any who were brave enough to be blatant about their interest in the pair. "Yeah, they're really going to forget about us. How are we going to hear anything from way over here, anyway? Shouldn't we try to move closer to where they are?" She tried her best to whisper, and she was fairly successful, but being quiet was not one of her strengths. One of the other shoppers shushed her like a librarian.

"Give it time. In a minute, I'll bother the clerk and have him direct us towards a series of books over there. That way, we can approach without being too obvious about _why_ we're approaching."

"Can't we just beat 'em up a bit?"

Blake looked around. "There are twenty of them in here. You think you can take all twenty and 'beat 'em up,' as you say?"

Yang clicked her tongue. "You got it, sister."

"You're terrible," was Blake's only response. Despite that, she indulged Yang and hurried up her timetable by walking nearer the clerk. "Excuse me, sir, but maybe you can help me. My companion over there owns a motorcycle and is interested in learning more about proper engine maintenance. Do you have any books related to anything along those lines?"

"Yes, we do. There's a whole section on do-it-yourself projects right over there, one aisle down from those two deer Faunus." He pointed at the two he was referring too, and then asked if there was anything else they needed help with. Blake assured him there wasn't, but that she would let him know as soon as the situation changed.

"C'mon, Yang, this way," Blake said, angling in the direction of the Faunus and the book section the clerk had pointed out. True to her assessment, the Faunus barely noticed them and began to return to their own conversations.

"What did I say?" Blake whispered, flashing a grin at Yang.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. I still say we beat 'em up. Hey, you wanna' hear a joke?"

Blake smiled, and Yang prepared herself to begin. Telling a joke properly is all about the execution, the presentation, and she needed to be in the proper state of mind to do it justice. "No," Blake said simply, turning back to the bookshelf and taking one off, handing it to Yang. "Read this and be quiet."

Yang looked at the book and nodded, happy that it was one she might actually have been interested in if they weren't on a secret spy mission for a mysterious headmaster who told grand tales about ancient societies locked in an everlasting war for world domination, one of which her sister, in fact her whole family, had been part of for generations… _yeah, maybe reading the book is a good idea,_ she thought. _My actual life is about ten steps crazier than it was when I went out last night._

From a few feet away, Yang could just make out the conversation between the two Faunus. "What did he say when you saw him?" the female asked.

* * *

"Have you heard that he's back in town?" Sienna asked.

Her companion, Dusty, merely nodded.

"Well, have you seen him yet?" she asked, trying again to coax a response out of him. _How long is he going to stay angry? It was just a meaningless joke. Learn to laugh at yourself._

Again, he merely nodded. _Argh! I swear, he can be so childish sometimes!_ She decided to give it one more try. _Three strikes and I'm out,_ she thought, angry at her best friend for being so petty. _The silent treatment is better than him being vindictive, I suppose, but not by much. That's like saying a flood is better than a hurricane._ "Dusty, c'mon. I've apologized a hundred times already for yesterday. Just talk to me, please. What did he say when you saw him?"

Dusty sucked in a deep breath. _Here it comes,_ Sienna thought. _He's going to explode again, just like he did last night. So much for friends forgiving and forgetting, huh?_ Instead of the expected tirade, however, he calmly answered her question. "He said it was almost time for us to strike, but we needed to take more precautions than normal. He's worried about fragments within the White Fang that might not like the direction the organization is heading; he's worried about informants with the police; he's worried about just about everything under the sun. I wouldn't be surprised if he brings the Grimm down on us with the attitude he's had the last few days."

Sienna hugged her arms around herself for comfort. _Oh, it's no wonder Dusty has been on edge for the last week._ "Why didn't you tell me this? I thought we were in this together? Haven't I always been right by your side?" Sienna asked.

"Don't you think I wanted to?" he whispered. "Sienna, I have been chomping at the bit all week, ever since he first showed up at the safe house, strolling right in as if he didn't have a care in the world, telling us that he had a plan for the future. What was I supposed to do at that point? How was I supposed to leave now that he was shouting about traitors?" Dusty looked around worriedly, fearful of anyone overhearing them despite the hushed tones they were using. "He's watching everyone, Sienna, all the time. He's probably watching us now."

"What do you want me to do? I'll do anything, Dusty. I won't let Adam hurt you."

Dusty grabbed her hands and held them tightly. "He's not the only one we have to worry about, Sienna. He brought a friend with him this time. An enforcer…I don't know, Sienna. I just don't know!" He let go of her hands and grabbed his head. "I need you to tell me what to do. You've always been the one I can count on."

 _An enforcer? Why would he need someone like that? I need to think._ She wrapped Dusty in a hug and whispered into his ear. "When's your next guard shift? You're normally alone for those, right?" He didn't answer, but she felt him nod. "Tomorrow, when you start your shift, wait a half hour. Then, when you know that you're not being watched, you leave. Meet me at the transit station. I'll pack some luggage for you and bring all of our money. We'll run away together, get out of here before anything worse happens. Do you understand?"

"Yes," he said softly.

"Good. Now come on. We should leave. You need to get back soon, before they miss you." As they made their way to the exit, she caught the eye of the Faunus that was hiding her heritage and her human friend. The Faunus blushed and looked away quickly. _I hope she didn't overhear what we were talking about,_ Sienna thought.

* * *

"So, did you hear the same thing that I did?" Yang asked Blake, leaning over the woman's shoulder to try and read the book she had held open in her hand.

"I don't know," Blake said, snapping the book shut and turning around to face Yang. "How do I know what you heard? I'm pretty sure we got what we need, though. One of them mentioned attracting the Grimm, so we can assume that their base must be somewhere near the outskirts of the city, otherwise they wouldn't have to worry about that possibility. And they'll apparently be missing their sentry sometime tomorrow evening."

"He mentioned a guy named Adam, too. He must be one of the ringleaders for this circus." She saw Blake grimace at the mention of the name, and decided that maybe it was a poor choice of words on her part. "Let me rephrase that: Adam must be one of the ones in charge with the White Fang right now, but he's apparently worried about a faction within their group that doesn't share the same goals, and he's planning something major. Does that just about cover it?"

"Yes," Blake said. "I wonder who his enforcer is…We should go."

"What about your book?" Yang asked. "Aren't you going to buy it?"

Blake shook her head. "No. We're here for business, not pleasure. We need to focus on the mission."

"If you say so, sister, but I think you should go buy this book now." Seeing Blake's confused look, she elaborated further. "Buying the book makes everyone hear forget about us. Instead of two young women coming in and hanging out for a few minutes before leaving, we're just another two satisfied customers. No one will think twice about us. Trust me, it'll work out just fine."

"I guess so," Blake said hesitantly. She clutched the book and made her way to the counter. "I don't suppose you're the one to pay for it?"

"Continue not supposing that, sister. I'll wait for you outside."

* * *

"Do you think Ruby and Weiss had any luck on their end?" Yang asked. She tilted to the side to keep her balance on the curb of the sidewalk, then jumped over a bundle of newspapers left out to be picked up by garbage collectors.

"Probably. They both seem like capable young women. You must be proud of your sister," Blake said, avoiding the trash more conventionally.

"Proud? I…I guess so, yeah." She continued to balance on the curb, her arm occasionally brushing one of the many cars parked along the street.

"You don't seem very sure of yourself with that answer," Blake said. To herself, she thought _she seems like she's trying to convince herself, not me._

"Yeah…I'm not. Truth is, I feel like I hardly know her. I haven't seen her in a few years now." There was clear regret in the woman's voice, and it showed in her balance. One of her feet slipped and she twisted her ankle, crying out more in shock at the fall than from the pain of it.

"Why not?" Blake asked, extending her hand to help Yang to her feet. "You seem like you two really care for each other."

"It's, uh, it's a long story." Yang rubbed the back of her neck as she spoke, avoiding looking at Blake. "I wasn't a very good older sister, and I was going through some things. I didn't want to drag her down with me, so I left her with our uncle. I thought she'd be better off there than with me."

"It sounds like you were trying to do the right thing at least," Blake said. _I'm not the best at emotions, but maybe it's my turn to try and make this thing work. If I can say something to make her feel better, than I should._ She took Yang's hand and held it gently, stopping the blonde from walking away.

"I was being selfish," Yang said, still avoiding looking Blake in the eye. "I wanted to help myself, and so I told myself a lie to make it easier. Have you ever done that?"

"Yes, I have," Blake said, quietly. "It's easier to run." _But no one can run forever without tiring out._ "Why are you with me, then, instead of making up lost time with her?"

Yang let out a laugh. "That's a good question, Blakey. I'm just…not ready to face her, not really. It'll take some time to prepare myself." She pulled her hand away and started to continue walking. "C'mon, Blake, we've got a long way to go still. You coming or not?"

Blake didn't move to follow. _I thought I heard something,_ she thought, her eyes darting from side to side, looking out into the city around them. _I thought I heard some sort of whine._ Her eyes caught a flash of metal and she lunged forward, colliding with Yang and driving her to the ground. The shadow clone Blake had left in her place dissolved in a puff of smoke as something tore through it, the physical contact dispelling the illusion.

"What the hell was that for?" Yang shouted, angry. Her eyes lit up.

Blake covered her mouth with one of her hands, the other drawing the sword attached to her back. "Quiet," she hissed. She removed her hand and pointed to the wall of the building to the side of them, where a small hole had suddenly appeared. "Someone's shooting at us," she explained.

There were several more whooshes as more darts flew over their heads and smashed into the wall, a dozen more holes appearing in mere seconds.

"Blake Belladonna," came a voice from down the street. "I'm here to bring you back. Why do you always insist on running?"

Blake recognized the voice immediately. _Raye._ "We need to run, now," she said, pulling on Yang's arm and dragging her down the nearest alley.

"Blake, who was that guy? Why are we running? Shouldn't we stand and fight?"

"Trust me, Yang, we don't want to stand around. Duck!" She moved her own head down just in time to avoid another round of flechettes. "Please, Yang, just trust me. It's easier to run."

* * *

"We're not going to be able to win this fight," Blake said, breathing heavily from exertion. She leaned against the building wall and looked at Yang. "We haven't lost him yet, and that's a problem."

"We can't win when we can't even get close to him, and his armor will shrug off anything we throw at him from range." They had been running for fifteen minutes, under nearly constant fire from their attacker's flechette launcher. "Do you have any ideas?"

Blake peered out from the cover they were currently behind. "I have a few…but they're all risky."

"I'm willing to hear them," Yang said, jumping up and firing off a few rounds from her gauntlets. She didn't stay standing to see if they connected, dropping back down behind the flower box that was currently protecting them. "Anything is better than this."

Blake pulled her head back in before Raye could hit her with one of his darts. "He hunts using electricity. If we can draw him somewhere with a lot of power, and turn it all on, he won't be able to keep tracking us. The electricity will mess with his vision; he'll end up walking around in circles."

"He hunts using electricity? That's _shocking_ ," Yang said. "Any of these buildings will probably work just fine, right? They're all wired. We just run through them flipping the switches, leave out the back and don't stop until we get to Beacon."

"Yang, now is not the time for jokes," Blake said, "but basically, yes. Any building will work. Do you see any that catch your eye?"

"That one," Yang said, pointing at random. "At the count of three, make a break for it and I'll cover you." Getting a nod from Blake, she began the countdown. "One...two…three!" Yang jumped and fired several rounds from each wrist before rolling to the left as several darts flew through the air she had just been occupying. Another flurry of darts flew towards Blake, moving effortlessly through another shadow clone she had thrown up behind her. Ahead of Yang and to the left, about twenty feet away, their attacker was standing in the open, not afraid of retaliation. The blasts from Ember Celica impacted the ground around him, throwing up chucks of concrete and asphalt.

The man walked forward, through the dust and debris, his rifle solidly pressed against his shoulder. The darts, despite their speed, provided little recoil, allowing the man to fire repeatedly without any penalty to his accuracy. Already he was recovering from his temporarily impaired vision as the dust dissipated, his gun tracking towards the fleeing Blake. "Not on my watch," Yang growled, sending another several rounds towards the attacker. The blasts hit him straight in the chest, staggering him and giving Yang and Blake the chance to run towards the building without fear of being shot.

"I'll break left, you break right," Blake said as they came to the door and pushed through it. "Every light switch, every computer, every coffeepot. We need as much power going through this building as possible, understood?"

Yang shouted her agreement and made for the offices to the right, reaching into every door and flipping the switches as quickly as she could. _All this running is tiring me out,_ she thought, gasping for breath. She was faintly aware of their attacker entering the building behind them. _Is he going to chase after me, or Blake?_ Yang asked herself. _No, I can't waste time wondering. I have a job to do._ She continued to run, coming to the end of the hallway and turning left, hitting every power switch she came too. Behind her came the noises of various devices as they powered on: computers, copiers, projectors; microwaves. _There should be a rear fire exit somewhere around here,_ she thought _._ She saw the bright neon sign and headed towards it at a full sprint, arriving just seconds after Blake.

"Do you think it'll work?" Yang asked as they barreled through the door, slamming it shut behind them.

"It should. It'll buy us enough time, at least, if it doesn't stop him entirely. It's only a matter of time before he finds the exit himself. We need to make the most of it while we can."

"It was a pretty _bright_ idea if it works," Yang said, ignoring the pointed groan from Blake. "C'mon, Ruby and Weiss are waiting for us, and we still have a long way to go. Are you still happy that we didn't take the motorcycle?"

* * *

"Blake, who was that guy? How did you know him? What did he mean when he said that he was going to 'take you back?'" Yang asked.

"I don't want to talk about it right now," Blake said. _She can't know the truth; she can't know what I am, what I was._

"What are we going to tell Ruby and Weiss? They're going to want to know what happened, too," Yang continued, not letting up for a second.

"I said, I don't want to talk about it," Blake said again. "Weren't you the one just saying that you weren't ready to face everything, all this, yet? I've been chasing after the White Fang for months now. They're dangerous, and he's one of them. This isn't the first time that he's chased after me, and it won't be the last. It just means that we need to work faster. Are you satisfied?"

There were a few moments of silence as they continued walking, coming to the bottom of the first flight of stairs and leaned over the balcony railing, looking at the people crowding the station below. "You see them?" Yang asked, looking over the crowd for Weiss and her sister.

Blake found them first. "There they are," she said, pointing to a bench against the far wall, the area around them mostly clear of other commuters. "Look at them. They seem…happy." The two girls were sitting shoulder to shoulder, looking excitedly at a scroll clutched in Ruby's hand.

"They seem to be getting along better than they were earlier, that's for sure. We should go meet them." Neither moved from their spot leaning over the railing. "Blake, do you believe any of what Professor Ozpin told us? Do you believe any of these stories about assassins and Templars?"

Blake looked her straight in the eye? "Yang, I don't know."

* * *

 **A/N:** I'm very sorry for the delay in posting this chapter. I originally had intended to take Christmas morning off only, and post this the week after, but then one thing led to another and then another, and now we're in the middle of January and I still hadn't done anything. I'm not overly thrilled with this chapter, and I might edit it again in the future, to try and get it up to my expectations, but I felt that the most important thing here was posting it and at least getting myself back in the thinking and writing process. I'm only expecting another three chapters to this story, so _hopefully_ it'll be done around the first weekend in February. As of now, at least, that's my plan.

Thank you all for reading, and please leave a review.


End file.
